A Highland construction company received an injunction from a federal appeals court in Chicago halting enforcement of the Affordable Care Act because it violates the owners' religious freedoms by requiring their health insurance coverage to cover birth control.

The injunction was issued by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

U.S. District Judge Michael Reagan declined to issue the injunction requested by Cyril B. and Jane Korte, owners of Korte & Luitjohan Contractors, Inc. Reagan stated in the opinion that the Kortes failed to show that they would win on the merits of their argument and they would suffer irreparable harm if an injunction wasn't issued.

The Kortes are practicing Catholics, whose company employees 90 full-time employees. The company provides health insurance as a benefit to those employees.

While their current insurance covers the cost of contraception, the Kortes filed suit because they said coverage of contraceptives violated their religious beliefs.

Previous court decision have found that corporations have a right to exercise free speech, but haven't yet ruled on whether they have a right to exercise religious freedoms.

The Kortes filed the lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Department of Labor and their respective secretaries in October.

The suit was filed by the American Center for Law and Justice on behalf of the Kortes. It is one of about 42 lawsuits filed around the country in an effort to block the Affordable Care Act.