Hobby Lobby Becomes 88th Plaintiff to File Suit Against ObamaCare

The 500 store crafts chain Hobby Lobby has filed suit against the ObamaCare abortion mandate.

 
Hobby Lobby, the national crafts store chain, announced Sept.12 that it has filed suit in Oklahoma Federal District Court challenging the Obama administration's abortion and sterilization mandate. Hobby Lobby became the 88th entity to sue for relief against the provisions of the mandate, and the first non-Catholic-owned for-profit business to do so.

“We have always operated our company in a manner consistent with Biblical principles, including integrity and service to others,” said Hobby Lobby founder and CEO David Green.

At a Sept. 12 press call announcing the lawsuit, Green explained that faith has been an “integral” part of the business from its humble beginning as a miniature picture frame company in 1972.

“Hobby Lobby has always been a tool for the Lord’s work,” he said. The company stands to be fined $1.3 million a day if it does not cooperate with the ObamaCare mandate.

Green said that he has “found a way to minister through Hobby Lobby.” He attributes his success with the company – which now has more than 500 stores and 22,500 employees nationwide – to God’s grace and said that he seeks to honor the Lord in everything he does.

Part of this faith means caring for the company’s employees, Green explained. He noted that the company is closed on Sundays – sacrificing millions of dollars in profits – in order to allow employees to spend time with their families.

In addition, he said, the company’s minimum wage for full-time employees is 80 percent above the national minimum wage.

“We also believe in sharing our faith,” Green added, pointing to the time and money that the company contributes to fund ministries throughout the world, as well as the full-page ads that it purchases at Christmas and Easter in every major city where it is present.

“For me and my family, charity equals ministry, which equals the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” he said.

Green explained that his freedom to operate his business in accordance with his beliefs is now being threatened to by the federal contraception mandate, announced on Jan. 20, which requires employers to offer coverage of free contraception, sterilization and early abortion-inducing drugs.

While he does not object to preventive birth control, which is already covered by the health care plan he offers, Green gravely objects to offering the “morning after” and “week after” pills, which induce early abortions by causing the death of an already existing human embryo.

“We simply cannot abandon our religious beliefs to comply with this mandate,” he said.