Obama Admin Won’t Enforce HHS Mandate Against Christian-Owned Rifle Scope Company

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Aug 13, 2013   |   5:46PM   |   Washington, DC

The HHS mandate is losing again — this time against a Christian-owner rifle scope company that doesn’t want to be forced to pay for birth control or drugs that may cause abortions for its employees.

The Obama administration has lost so many HHS mandate cases in court that it didn’t even put up a challenge in response to the company’s lawsuit, according to news reports:

The U.S. Department of Justice has said it will not oppose a lawsuit filed by a Michigan-based Christian-run business that is seeking suspension of enforcement of the abortion

pill mandate against it.

In the lawsuit by Trijicon, which manufactures sights and scopes for the military, law enforcement, and hunter, the Justice Department has notified the court it will not oppose

the business’ request for a court order that would suspend enforcement of the mandate against the company, Alliance Defending Freedom said in a statement on Friday.

“All Americans, including job creators, should be free to honor God and live according to their consciences wherever they are,” said Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman of Alliance

Defending Freedom, which filed the suit on the company’s behalf. “As the vast majority of courts have found so far, the abortion pill mandate is an excessive burden on the

religious freedom that the Constitution recognizes and guarantees to all Americans.”

Trijicon and its owners have deeply held religious beliefs that life begins at conception or fertilization, attorneys stated in Trijicon v. Sebelius, filed with the U.S.

District Court for the District of Columbia. “These beliefs cause them to object to covering items in their health plan that they believe to cause early abortion. Defendants,

however, are mandating that Trijicon violate its and its owners’ beliefs by covering such items in next year’s employee health insurance plan which begins on September 1, 2013.”

“My father began this business with the intent of treating our employees and customers in a way that represented his strong Christian faith,” said Trijicon President and CEO

Stephen Bindon. “By filing this lawsuit, we are simply trying to retain the culture and values we’ve always promoted here at Trijicon.

This latest victory comes after Liberty University beat the mandate in court earlier this month.

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Last month, a federal court granted Hobby Lobby a preliminary injunction against the HHS abortion-drug mandate. The injunction prevents the Obama administration from enforcing the mandate against the Christian company, which does not want to be compelled to pay for birth control or drugs that may cause abortions.

“The tide has turned against the HHS mandate,” said Kyle Duncan, General Counsel with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, and lead attorney for Hobby Lobby. “This is a major victory for not only Hobby Lobby, but the religious liberty of all for-profit businesses.”

Duncan says there are now 63 separate lawsuits challenging the HHS mandate. The Becket Fund led the charge against the unconstitutional HHS mandate. The Becket Fund currently represents: Hobby Lobby, Wheaton College, East Texas Baptist University, Houston Baptist University, Colorado Christian University, the Eternal Word Television Network, Ave Maria University, and Belmont Abbey College.

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