U.S.: For-profit status limits rights

• Tweet

OKLAHOMA CITY, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- For-profit companies cannot argue regulations violate their religious beliefs, U.S. lawyers said in response to a lawsuit filed by an Oklahoma retailer.

David Green, founder of Hobby Lobby, a chain of arts and crafts stores, say the requirement in the Affordable Health Care Act that health insurance plans cover birth control violates their religious beliefs. While Green's lawyers say he does not object to all birth control, some devices are really a form of abortion.

In the response filed Wednesday, lawyers for the U.S. Justice Department said allowing Green an objection would make enforcing regulations almost impossible, The Oklahoman reported..

"Because there are an infinite variety of alleged religious beliefs, such companies and their owners could claim countless exemptions from an untold number of general commercial laws designed to protect against unfair discrimination in the workplace and to protect the health and well-being of individual employees and their families," the government said.

The Becket Foundation for Religious Liberty argues the law forces Green and his family, devout Evangelical Christians, to go against their own beliefs.

A hearing is scheduled Nov. 1.