On June 30, five Supreme Court justices determined that
privately-held corporations – which constitute 90% of businesses in the US -
can legally force their religious views on their employees, and circumvent
federal laws that apply to every person in the United States.
The ruling in the Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. case.
sets a dangerous precedent for any "closely-held corporation" to
limit employees' access to healthcare based on an employer’s personally-held,
non-medical, ideological beliefs.
Hobby Lobby sued for the right to refuse coverage for IUDs
and “morning-after pills” for their female employees. Company owners believe these medically-safe
contraceptives to be "abortifacients;" however, they actually work by
preventing ovulation and, therefore, do not inhibit implantation. This medical
fact has been confirmed by the American Congress of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists, the American Medical Association, the National Institute of
Child Health and Human Development, The International Federation of Gynecology
and Obstetrics, the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug
Administration, among others. The
majority of abortion opponents in the medical community have accepted this
conclusion.
In 2012, evangelical bioethicist Dennis Sullivan, the
Director of Cedarville University's Center for Bioethics in Cedarville, Ohio,
reviewed emergency contraceptive research for a peer-reviewed article in
“Ethics & Medicine.” He found no evidence that Plan B causes abortions. "There's no evidence of that
effect," he said. "Our claims of conscience should be based on
scientific fact, and we should be willing to change our claims if facts
change."
Of note: Hobby Lobby has chosen to continue to provide
coverage for vasectomies for male employees and, through its 401(k) plan, will
continue to invest in the manufacturers of the same birth control it refuses to
cover for its female employees.
This overt sexual discrimination has not gone unnoticed by
Congress.
Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.),
and Mark Udall (D-CO) have introduced the "Protect Women's Health From
Corporate Interference Act" to restore previous contraception-access rules
that existed before the Hobby Lobby decision.
This bill will restore the original legal guarantee that
women have access to contraceptive coverage through their work-based insurance
plans, and will protect coverage of other health services from employer
interference as well.
This bill also includes the original exemption from the
contraceptive coverage requirement for houses of worship, and an accommodation
for religious non-profits.
The bill has been endorsed by the American Congress of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Asian & Pacific Islander American Health
Forum, Association of Reproductive Health Professionals, Black Women's Health
Imperative, Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive
Rights (COLOR), Global Justice Institute,
Institute for Science and Human Values, Law Students for Reproductive
Justice, Methodist Federation for Social Action, Metropolitan Community
Churches, National Council of Jewish Women, National Family Planning &
Reproductive Health Association, National Latina Institute for Reproductive
Health, National Partnership for Women and Families, National Women's Law
Center, People For the American Way, Physicians for Reproductive Health,
Population Connection Action Fund, The Center for Women Policy Studies, The
United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society, The Women's
Business Development Center, and Women's Law Project, among others.
Companion legislation will be introduced in the House by
Reps. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Diana Degette (D-CO), and Rep. Jerry Nadler
(D-NY).
In addition, the Senate Judiciary Committee will conduct a
hearing on July 15, regarding S.B. 1696, referred to as the “Women’s Health
Protection Act.”
When workers pay a premium for workplace-based health
insurance, they should receive full coverage.
Preventive health benefits should not been defined by Congress,
government bureaucrats, or CEOs - but by medical researchers, doctors, nurses
and medical professionals.
Religious freedom is a founding principle of American
liberty – but when this freedom is twisted into something it is not, the
results are overt oppression and discrimination, subjugation of the laws of the
land, and potential threats to the health and well-being of millions of
people. Citizens must act to restore
balance and fairness for those who seek genuine religious freedom, and for
those who are at risk of becoming casualties of an erroneous legal
precedent.
-DLH
