WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge is temporarily preventing the Obama administration from forcing a Christian publishing company to provide its employees with certain contraceptives under the new health care law.
U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton granted a preliminary injunction Friday sought by Tyndale House Publishers, which doesn't want to provide employees with contraceptives that it equates with abortion.
At issue are contraceptives such as Plan B and IUDs, which may be able to prevent a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterus. Tyndale views that as not morally different from abortion.
Walton wrote that the Obamacare's contraceptive mandate "compels the plaintiffs to violate their religious beliefs in order to comply with the law." He said that if the company doesn't comply with the mandate, it is subject to government fines and lawsuits.
