The justices ruled 5-4 that the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act protects the Oklahoma City-based chain of crafts stores from financing coverage for contraceptive methods mandated by the Affordable Care Act.

WASHINGTON -- Hobby Lobby and other closely-held corporations can deny health insurance coverage for some contraceptives if they object to them on religious grounds, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday.

However, the conservative wing of the court that gave Hobby Lobby the victory said the decision only applies to the contraceptive mandate “and should not be understood to hold that all insurance-coverage mandates, e.g., for vaccinations or blood transfusions, must necessarily fall if they conflict with an employer’s religious beliefs. Nor does it provide a shield for employers who might cloak illegal discrimination as a religious practice.”

The majority said the government could provide coverage for the contested contraceptives just as it is doing for churches and other non-profit organizations already exempted from the mandate.The majority also tried to narrow the scope of the companies that can claim a religious exemption to a law, saying that the case did not involve publicy-traded corporations.

The decision resolved two cases that were before the court together involving businesses privately held by Christian families: Hobby Lobby and an affiliated chain of Christian bookstores, controlled by David Green and his family, of Oklahoma City; and Conestoga Wood Specialties, a cabinet maker based in Pennsylvania.

The families say four of the contraceptives can prevent a human embryo from being implanted in the womb, which they equate to abortion. They filed lawsuits against the federal government, contending the mandate forced them to violate the Christian beliefs by which they run their companies.