A few dozen people protested in front of the Lawrence Hobby Lobby store Monday in response to the company’s involvement in a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed family-owned corporations to refuse to pay for their employees’ birth control if they have religious objections.

Abigail Stallbaumer, Topeka, pumps her fist as she and other protesters solicit support from motorists during a protest Monday outside Hobby Lobby, 1801 W 23rd St. At the height of the demonstration, about 40 protesters lined the sidewalk with signs objecting to the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that enables closely held companies like Hobby Lobby to remove coverage for women's birth control from their employee health care plans citing infringements upon the company owner's religious beliefs.

As passing motorists on 23rd Street waved and honked, about 40 protesters held signs with slogans like “Get a Better Hobby,” “Not my Boss’s Business” and several that are unprintable here.

Last Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that the government could not require closely held corporations to pay for insurance coverage for contraceptives because it violated federal protections for freedom of religion. Hobby Lobby’s Christian owners had challenged the Obama administration’s contraception requirement, which was part of the Affordable Care Act.

In response, the Kansas Young Democrats organized Monday’s protest, which was later joined by Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Missouri and members of the Unitarian Fellowship of Lawrence, among others.

Sean Elliott, spokesman for the Kansas Young Democrats, said that while the group disagrees with the Supreme Court’s ruling that corporations can have religious beliefs, it thinks the issue could push more people to vote Democrat on Election Day.

“We know that despite our disappointment in the ruling, this will motivate young people and young women to vote,” he said.

Josh Karami, a Kansas State University student from Topeka, said the response from passersby Monday was “surprisingly positive,” save for a motorist in a T-shirt of President Obama that said “Liar” who stopped to photograph him and his fellow protestors.

Eleanor Patton, a retired Lawrence costume designer, said she shopped at Hobby Lobby on a near-weekly basis for years but started boycotting the corporation after she learned about its position on contraception.

“As much as I have recommended this store and used it myself, it’s just too painful for me to know that this is a company whose owners want to control the reproductive rights of their employees, particularly lower paid employees who may not have another option,” she said.

Members of the Unitarian Fellowship of Lawrence wore yellow “Standing on the Side of Love” T-shirts, part of a social justice campaign sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Association. “Unitarians have a very strong, long-standing position in support of access to health care for everyone, with no limitations,” said Forrest Swall, a retired Kansas University faculty member who leads the Unitarian Fellowship of Lawrence’s social justice team.

One of the people wearing the yellow shirts, state Sen. Marci Francisco, D-Lawrence, said the Legislature spent a lot of time this year debating religious freedom, particularly a bill that would have protected businesses that refused to provide services to same-sex couples.

“We certainly want people to be free to practice their religion, but we need to be careful to say, ‘When does one’s individual practice of religion interfere with the rights of others?'” she said. “So certainly it’s an issue we should all be discussing.”

On a nearby corner, Lawrence resident Nancy Krische staged a counter protest.

“I am supporting Hobby Lobby because I am firmly and unequivocally pro-life, pro-woman, pro-child — pro-life, from natural conception to natural end. We all are created sacred to God,” said Krische, who was holding a rosary and a copy of the book “Unplanned: The Dramatic True Story of a Former Planned Parenthood Leader’s Eye-Opening Journey Across the Life Line.” Of the other protesters, she added, “I pray for them and their conversion.”

Lawrence nurse Nina Murray was passing the protest on her way home from a 12-hour shift when she decided to make her voice heard — in favor of Hobby Lobby. So she went inside the store, bought a dry-erase board and wrote on it: “We love Hobby Lobby — pay for your own playing around!”

She circled the protesters and yelled the message at them. A few minutes later she said, “I think I got my point across. I’m going home to get some sleep.”

The Lawrence store and the company’s public relations firm declined to comment on the protest, while the company’s lawyers in the Supreme Court case didn’t respond to a request for a comment Monday.