The Supreme Court recently ruled that Hobby Lobby has the right to limit what contraceptives
are offered in its employees healthcare plan. A decision that some people are calling a
win for religious rights and others are calling a loss for Women's Rights. So, what is Hobby
Lobby and what did the court actually decide?
Well... Hobby Lobby is an arts and crafts company based out of Oklahoma City, with more
than 500 locations around the U.S.. It is a privately held corporation owned by devout
Evangelical Christians. They claim that some contraceptives offered under the Affordable
Care Act are against their religious beliefs and they didn't want to be complicit in providing
their employees access to these birth control measures. 5 out of 9 judges on the supreme
court agreed with Hobby Lobby and ruled in their favor.
Still. This ruling is very controversial. According to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg,
who wrote the dissent to the Supreme Court's decision, there are tons of reasons the court
should have decided against Hobby Lobby.
First off, What about Hobby Lobby's female employees and their freedoms? Doesn't this
decision deny these employees access to contraception? Employees may not even share Hobby Lobby's
beliefs.
Plus, the government wasn't forcing Hobby Lobby to give their employees contraception,
they were forcing Hobby Lobby to leave that choice up to the employees and the employees
doctors. Again making it a personal rights issue.
And what about the court's ability to stand up against other religious beliefs in future
cases? Jehovah Witnesses are against blood transfusions? Christian scientists are against
vaccinations? What's to stop business owners with those beliefs from taking away those
options?
According to Justice Ginsburg we don't really know and she thinks that all of these concerns
should have been taken into greater consideration. So, why didn't the court vote Ginsberg's way?
Well, there are a slew of political reasons, but there is also a legitimate legal argument
centering around the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
It basically says that the Federal Government can not substantially burden a person's exercise
of religion even if that burden was put in place as a federal law. In this case Hobby
Lobby was going to be burdened with huge fines for not following the federal laws put in
place by the affordable care act.
The court upheld the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and Hobby Lobby won. The decision was
also eased along by the fact that non-profit organizations were already exempt from the
same section of the affordable care act that Hobby Lobby was refusing to follow. Plus,
the courts believe that the government could come up with a better way to get these contraceptives
The ruling as written only applies to "closely held" corporations, those that have at least
50% of their stock owned by 5 or fewer individuals. And it is limited to the contraceptives in
question and does not extend out to other laws or religious beliefs. Sorry Jehovah's
Witnesses, your beliefs on blood transfusions aren't going to be considered, for some reason.
Contraception only.
Still, critics have questions. Why didn't the court look into the validity of Hobby
Lobby's claims that the contraceptives in question were against their religious beliefs.
Is the morning after pill technically abortion?
Why didn't the court reopen the question of corporate personhood? If corporations can
be people, can they be religious people?
Why didn't they look at how this affects the rights of women? Are employers qualified to
speak to issues of women's health? Should religious groups be allowed to dictate what
health care women can and can not have access to?
A lot of people are having strong reactions to the ruling, if you are one of them let
us know what you think down below in the comments. And if you found this video informative, please
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