On Moral Grounds

At the beginning of this year, the United States Health and Human services unveiled a new policy known as the HHS Mandate. The HHS requires that all companies which provide private health care insurance must also provide coverage for employees to receive contraceptive drugs. Of course, this new policy hasn't been so easily accepted by everyone.

Hobby Lobby in particular has chosen to defy the HHS Mandate on moral grounds. The company’s Christian founders claim that the policy violates their Biblical beliefs, and that offering abortion-inducing drugs to their employees would go against their pro-life principles. However, any company that refuses to comply with the mandate will be charged some serious fines, and for Hobby Lobby, this could mean up to $1.3 million for every day they fail to provide the required insurance. Despite the mounting cost, the company has proceeded with a lawsuit that has already reached the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. On Friday, the court ruled that Hobby Lobby’s appeal would be decided by nine judges, instead of the usual 3-judge panel, and has even agreed to hear the appeal on an expedited basis.

U.S. District Court judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn recently issued the dismissal of a similar appeal made by the ETWN Global Catholic Television Network. ETWN filed the lawsuit for the same reasons as Hobby Lobby, but were turned down based on the court’s reluctance to make a ruling in light of future revisions the HHS has yet to receive.

Despite ETWN’s setback, Hobby Lobby still has a chance at success. Already they've garnered other 37,000 supporters on Facebook alone, and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee has even promoted a Hobby Lobby Appreciation Day (Jan. 5) to help support the company’s decision.