Court Hearing Set for Hobby Lobby: November 1, 2012 Arts and Crafts Store Asks for Immediate Halt to ‘Abortion-Pill Mandate’ that Violates Founders’ Christian Faith

WASHINGTON, DC – Following the filing of the last brief in the Hobby Lobby case, a federal judge will hear arguments on November 1,  2012 to consider whether to halt enforcement of the HHS mandate, which forces Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., a Christian-owned-and-operated business, to provide the abortion-inducing drugs, the “morning after pill” and “week after pill”, in violation of their deeply held religious beliefs, or face crippling fines up to $1.3 million per day.

WHAT:
Court hearing on Preliminary Injunction on Hobby Lobby Case 

WHO:
Kyle Duncan, General Counsel, Becket Law

WHEN:
November 1, 2012
9:00am CST/10:00am EST
(Check back here for any scheduling changes due to Hurricane Sandy)

WHERE:
US District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma
200 NW 4th Street, Courtroom #304
Oklahoma City OK 73102

Becket attorneys will be available for comment immediately following the hearing.   For more information, or to arrange an interview with one of the attorneys, please contact Melinda Skea at media@becketlaw.org or call 202.349.7224.

Hobby Lobby is the largest and only non-Catholic-owned business to file a lawsuit against the HHS mandate.  The Green family has no moral objection to the use of preventive contraceptives and will continue its longstanding practice of covering these preventive contraceptives for its employees. However, it is in violation of the Green family’s faith to provide or pay for the “morning-after pill” and the “week-after pill,” believing that life begins at conception, when an egg is fertilized.

The business’ lawsuit acts to preserve the Green family’s rights to carry out their mission free from government coercion.

Becket Law is a non-profit, public-interest law firm dedicated to protecting the free expression of all religious traditions. Becket has an 18-year history of defending religious liberty for people of all faiths. Its attorneys have been recognized as experts in the field of church-state law. Becket recently won a 9-0 victory at the U.S. Supreme Court in Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC, which The Wall Street Journal called one of “the most important religious liberty cases in a half century.”

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