Today freedom-loving Americans across this great nation are showing support for Hobby Lobby in their stand against the unconstitutional overreach of the Obama Administration. I encourage you to join my organization, Citizens United, and many others as we call on our members nationwide to publicly show our support for Hobby Lobby and other organizations who are taking on the Obama Administration over the contraceptive mandate.
Obamacare contains a mandate which requires all private healthcare plans to cover “preventative care services for women.” The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued rules that health care plans must include ALL FDA-approved contraceptives, including abortifacients, without direct cost to the “patient”. This HHS mandate contains only an exemption for churches and their affiliates but not religious nonprofits and businesses run by people of faith. Those who are refusing to comply with the mandate because it is in direct conflict with their beliefs are facing crippling fines of up to $100 per day, per employee.
Hobby Lobby is not alone in its suit against the Obama Administration challenging this anti-religious freedom mandate. Fellow plaintiffs include Conestoga Wood Specialties, Little Sisters of the Poor, Notre Dame University, and many others. These businesses and organizations are fighting desperately against the mandate which is already in effect, and its attack on religious liberty is well underway. Since January 1 of this year, these organizations have been forced against their will to violate their consciences and supply abortifacients at no charge to their employees.
This HHS mandate is a defining moment in our nation’s history. Religious liberty, which is one of the most basic freedoms we enjoy here in America, is under attack by our government. The government is forcing its citizens to violate the teachings of their faith in order to fulfill the agenda of the current administration.
Just this week, arguments in Hobby Lobby’s case were heard before the Supreme Court Justices. According to Politico, a majority of the Justices “seemed particularly doubtful” of the Obama Administration’s claim that “for-profit companies have no religious rights under federal law,” and in particular some of the Justices didn’t quite understand why the Obama Administration could not allow for-profit companies to opt-out of the mandate.
The final decision on the case should come out later this year. More than 100 businesses and employers have sued over the contraceptive mandate. While we wait for this decision to come down from the Supreme Court, it’s important for freedom-loving American citizens to show their support for Hobby Lobby and the other groups suing the government. It’s an important signal to the Obama Administration that “We, the People” are aware of what they are attempting to do, and “We” will not stand for it.
Just as the Citizens United case opened people’s eyes to how politicians have been reining in the First Amendment and the area of free speech for years, Hobby Lobby will do the same for religious freedom. Our Founding Fathers created these rights so that Big Government could not infringe on them, and the Hobby Lobby case shows just how far Big Government has come. As in the Citizens United case, those on the Supreme Court seem to understand that the federal government is overstepping its bounds; for that I am thankful.
So please join me in shopping at and cheering on Hobby Lobby, as they are not just fighting for their own freedom, but yours and mine as well. To find your local Hobby Lobby store, go to: http://www.hobbylobby.com/StoreLocator; or you can shop online here: http://shop.hobbylobby.com/.
Together, we can send the Obama Administration a clear message: we will not sit idly by while they trample on our basic God-given freedoms.