Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the Obama administration on behalf of Dr. James Dobson and his “Family Talk” radio show and ministry, a Christian non-profit organization that is currently subject to Obamacare’s abortion pill mandate.

The lawsuit challenges the legality and constitutionality of the mandate, which requires religious employers to provide insurance coverage for abortifacients, sterilization, and contraception to employees regardless of religious or moral objections. Dobson and Family Talk object specifically to providing coverage for abortion drugs and devices.

“The government shouldn’t be able to punish Americans for exercising their fundamental freedoms,” said Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. “Any government willing to force a family-run Christian ministry to participate in immoral acts under the threat of crippling fines is a government everyone should fear.”

“Our ministry believes in living out the religious convictions we hold to and talk about on the air,” added Dobson, Family Talk’s founder and president. “As Americans, we should all be free to live according to our faith and to honor God in our work. The Constitution protects that freedom so that the government cannot force anyone to act against his or her sincerely held religious beliefs. But the mandate ignores that and leaves us with a choice no American should have to make: comply and abandon your religious freedom, or resist and be fined for your faith.”

The lawsuit, Dobson v. Sebelius, filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, argues that the mandate violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act as well as the First and Fifth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys and allied attorneys are also litigating numerous other lawsuits against the mandate. The lawsuits represent a large cross-section of Protestants and Catholics who object to the mandate.

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith.

The Hobby Lobby craft store chain has won a major legal victory in its battle to avoid compliance with the federal contraceptive and abortion drug mandate when the Tenth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a U.S. District Court to re-examine Hobby Lobby’s petition for a temporary injunction blocking enforcement of the mandate against the firm. 

The full panel of the Tenth Circuit ruled that Hobby Lobby had “established a likelihood of success that their rights…are substantially burdened by the contraceptive-coverage requirement, and have established an irreparable harm.” 

The Court concluded that Hobby Lobby had legitimate claims under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.  The judges ruled that the right to free exercise of religion includes corporations.    

“The protections of the Religion Clauses extend beyond the walls of a church, synagogue, or mosque to religiously motivated conduct, as well as religious belief,” the judges wrote.  “Religious conduct includes religious expression, which can be communicated by individuals and for-profit corporations alike.” 

“We are encouraged by this decision,” said David Green, founder of Hobby Lobby Stores.  “We believe that business owners should not have to choose between following their faith and following the law.”  

“My family and I believe very strongly in our conviction that life begins at conception,” Green explains.  “The emergency contraceptives that we would be forced to provide under this mandate are contrary to that conviction.” 

Hobby Lobby faced fines of $1.3 million per day for failing to comply with the contraceptive and abortion drug mandate.  That mandate, issued by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, took effect on January 1st.    

The mandate requires all health insurance plans issued in the United States to provide “free” coverage of all contraceptives approved by the Food and Drug Administration.  The FDA definition of “contraceptives” includes abortifacient drugs and devices.   

The Department of HHS just announced “revisions” to the rules governing how the mandate applies to religious organizations.  While organized churches and their “integrated auxiliaries” are exempt from the mandate, other religious institutions are not. 

Under the latest rules, groups who are operated as non-profit entities, hold themselves out as religious organizations, and oppose contraceptive coverage based on religious objections, will not have to “pay” for such coverage in their health insurance plans. 

However, such groups will still be required to cooperate with their insurers or third-party administrators to ensure that the “free” coverage of contraceptives is provided to their employees. 

Obama Administration officials have painted the latest religious exemption rules as a compromise.  Catholic and Southern Baptist religious leaders have derided the “accomodation” as a sham.   

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An Illinois state appeals court has ruled that pharmacy owners cannot be compelled to stock and sell drugs that violate their religious beliefs. 

The appeals court upheld a lower court injunction prohibiting enforcement of a state regulation governing the availability of so-called “emergency contraceptives.” 

Disgraced  former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich had issued an unlawful administrative rule in 2005 requiring that all pharmacies stock and dispense Plan B, the so-called “morning after pill.”  Emergency contraception, a high dose of regular birth control pills, can chemically abort a pregnancy if taken within 72 hours of intercourse. In some cases, the pill may prevent a fertilized human embryo from implanting in a woman’s uterus — effectively starving the human embryo. 

Two pharmacy owners, Luke Vander Bleek and Glenn Kosirog, challenged the conscience quashing administrative mandate, claiming that it violated their rights under the state’s Health Care Conscience Rights Act and Religious Freedom Restoration Act since they both believe these drugs are abortion-causing agents.

According to report by the Chicago Tribune, the 4th District Appellate Court affirmed but modified a permanent injunction granted by a lower court that had found that state law “protects the pharmacists’ decisions not to dispense emergency contraceptives due to their conscience.”

“This decision is a great victory for religious freedom,” says Mark Rienzi, senior counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberties.  “The government shouldn’t kick business owners out of the market because it dislikes their religious beliefs.” 

“Luke and Glenn are competent and caring professionals who have been diligently serving the public for decades,”  Rienzi comments.  “In a pluralistic society that honors diversity there ought to be room for people like our clients to practice their profession without the threat of government sanctions.” 

The appeals court affirmed the conclusion of a state circuit court that Illinois law “protects the pharmacist’s decision not to dispense emergency contraceptives due to their conscience.”

Read more: Pro-Life Pharmacists Win Huge Victory in Illinois Decision (LifeNews.com)