HOBBY lobby Birth-control coverage up for an appeal

Associated Press

DENVER

In the most-prominent challenge of its kind, Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. asked a federal appeals court Thursday for an exemption from part of the federal health-care law that requires it to offer employees health coverage that includes access to the morning-after pill.

The Oklahoma City-based arts-and-crafts chain argues that businesses — not just the currently exempted religious groups — should be allowed to seek exception from that section of the health law if it violates their religious beliefs.

The owners should have their religious views protected even though they run a store that makes a profit, said Kyle Duncan, who argued before the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of the Green family, founders of Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. and a sister company, Christian booksellers Mardel Inc.

More than two dozen other businesses in multiple states are challenging the contraception mandate.