Thousands to Join Hobby Lobby Appreciation Day Over Mandate Fight

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jan 3, 2013   |   7:06PM   |   Washington, DC

Tens of thousands of Americans have committed to support the Christian crafts store Hobby Lobby on January 5 after courts have refused to issue a ruling stopping the Obama HHS mandate.

Hobby Lobby will incur $1.3 million in fines each day from the Obama administration for not following the mandate, which forces companies to pay for birth control and drugs that may cause abortions for their employees. To support the company, one supporter has launched a new effort, that has quickly gone viral, to patronize the business.

Organizer Joe Grabowski told LifeNews: “Inspired by the “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day” promoted this past August by Governor Mike Huckabee, a similar grassroots initiative has cropped up in the past few days at www.StandWithHobbyLobby.com. The Facebook-driven campaign has already collected more than 18,000 people who have pledged to shop at the store on Saturday.”

“On Saturday, January 5th, all Americans who value freedom of religion and oppose the HHS Mandate’s unfair impositions upon religious individuals and corporate entities are called upon to show their support for Hobby Lobby by shopping either at their local retail Hobby Lobby store or online,” he said.

Following a decision by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor denying Hobby Lobby’s request for an exemption from the Obama administration’s HHS mandate, the Christian retail company said it will defy the mandate.

As LifeNews reported, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has refused to act favorably on an emergency appeal Hobby Lobby stores filed to stop enforcement of the HHS mandate against it.

After a federal court denied a request to temporarily stop enforcement of the abortion pill mandate against the Christian-operated business Hobby Lobby, it took its HHS mandate lawsuit to the Supreme Court. Sotomayor denied its request to block the mandate and the millions of dollars in fines it will be subjected to starting January 1 for not complying.

Sotomayor said Hobby Lobby did not show it met the legal standard for blocking enforcement on an emergency basis, but said the company can continue with its lawsuit in lower court.

Now, an attorney for Hobby Lobby says it will defy the mandate and potentially risk potential fines of up to $1.3 million per day.

Kyle Duncan, an attorney for the pro-life legal group Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, said in a statement that hobby Lobby doesn’t plan to offer its employees insurance that would cover the drug while its lawsuit is pending.

“The company will continue to provide health insurance to all qualified employees,” Duncan said. “To remain true to their faith, it is not their intention, as a company, to pay for abortion-inducing drugs.”

The most recent polling data from December 2012 shows Americans support a religious exemption to the mandate.