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PSA Re: #SCOTUS #HobbyLobby Ruling – How You Can Help

July 14th, 2014 6 comments
Ashley L. Conti | BDN found  here

Ashley L. Conti | BDN
found here

This is just a quick PSA and a call for support.

As most people who pay attention to repro-rights know, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) has ruled that a company’s right to religious freedom trumps a woman’s right to choose her birth control, despite the fact that the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) mandates employers cover the cost of birth control. You can find the ruling in full here and the New York Times coverage of the ruling (which is much easier to read) here.

After the ruling was announced, and the country exploded in outrage (aside from a few Christians who believe “religious freedom” means forcing their religion on others), SCOTUS further explained their ruling, extending Hobby Lobby’s exemption to all birth control.

This ruling explicitly ignores the fact that birth control is not simply to prevent unwanted pregnancy. In fact, many women and young girls have been prescribed birth control to treat illnesses and other health issues like endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome. After the ruling, one woman @’ed me to tell me her child is on birth control to control epileptic seizures that could kill her.

Okay, okay. This happened. We can’t make it un-happen. But we can do something, right?

Yes. We can. And that’s why I’m writing.

There’s an act being written as we speak to reverse this ruling and prevent something like this from happening in the future.

From the NARAL Pro-Choice America site:

When the Supreme Court ruled in Hobby Lobby’s favor and gave bosses power to decide whether their employees would get birth control coverage, people all over the country responded with outrage and turned to Congress to right this wrong. Your voice was heard.

Pro-choice champions in Congress introduced the “Not My Boss’ Business” Act. If passed, this bill would ban bosses from picking and choosing which guaranteed benefits their employees receive.

From ABC News:

The bill, the Protect Women’s Health from Corporate Interference Act, mandates that employers cannot disrupt coverage for contraception or other health services that are guaranteed under federal law. It comes a week after the Supreme Court’s controversial ruling that closely held for-profit companies can deny contraceptive coverage under their company health plans if it goes against a sincerely held religious belief.

Want to help shove this act into high gear? It’s as simple as adding your name to the sponsor list. You can do that here. Please help us tell Congress and the rest of this country’s legislators that religious freedom does not mean that a company is allowed to make decisions about the healthcare choices of its employees.

Thank you for your support.

 
 

UPDATE

Edited to add: It has been brought to my attention that the ruling WAS NOT expanded. In fact, it ALWAYS covered all twenty forms of birth control. The confusion is in what Hobby Lobby was asking for. While they did, in fact, only ask to be exempt from supplying what they consider “abortifacients” (though the science proves them wrong), the ruling covered all birth control.

The Senate blocked the “Not My Boss’ Business” Act.

You can still help. We need at least 100,000 signatures to overrule SCOTUS. Sign here. Donation not required.