On Monday, June 30, 2014, the Supreme Court of the United States issued their ruling in the Hobby Lobby case of religious freedom. I'm sure everyone has heard about the case but just in case someone missed it - Hobby Lobby filed suit against the government and the mandate in The Affordable Care Act that corporations who provide health care benefits for their employees must also provide for any and all forms of contraception as part of their insurance coverage.
Hobby Lobby, founded by devout Christian David Green, filed suit against the government because he did not want to be forced to provide "certain types of contraceptives" that may kill a fertilized embryo because his religious beliefs say that abortion, even drug induced, is murder.
The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, agreed with Green and said that while Hobby Lobby must abide by the AFA, they did not have to provide for 4 specific types of birth control, which include abortion inducing drugs and IUDs.
Liberals, feminists, Democrat politicians and the main stream media went ballistic. Many said the Supreme Court was "denying women their reproductive rights" while others took it further and said the Supreme Court and Hobby Lobby were "denying women health care" in general. Neither of those claims are anywhere near the truth.
Hobby Lobby employee health care insurance policies cover 16 of 20 forms of contraception. Let me say that again - sixteen of twenty forms of contraception. To say the Supreme Court decision denies women their reproductive rights is blatantly false. The only forms of contraception they do not cover, in accordance with their religious beliefs, are the four I mentioned above - IUDs and abortion inducing drugs. And the decision made by the Supreme Court doesn't prevent women from obtaining those four products - it merely says that Hobby Lobby doesn't have to pay for those.
The statements being made about the court preventing women from obtaining birth control, or being denied health care in general because of this decision are flat out lies. Yet they're being spread nationwide by the media - checked only by FOX News and conservative pundits. Even the President, who claims to be a "constitutional lawyer" says the decision is wrong - because apparently he knows more about the Constitution than the Justices on the Supreme Court.
The false rhetoric I don't find that surprising. It happens all the time. Liberals get hit with a truth they don't like and they go ballistic, lying about what is and isn't real. Nope - that doesn't surprise me at all. What does surprise me (but only a little) are the calls for Hobby Lobby to be "burned to the ground" because the Supreme Court ruled in their favor. Shouldn't they be objecting to the Supreme Court and call for their destruction? Or maybe they should call for the burning of the Constitution since it's the document on which they based their decision.
Other people said they would "never set foot in Hobby Lobby again." If you stop shopping there or burn down Hobby Lobbys what happens to the employees who depend on their jobs to survive? Is that the compassion and tolerance of liberals - punish the employees for the beliefs of the owners? By the way - those owners make their Christian beliefs well known to their employees. A part of their mission statement is "to honor the Lord by following Biblical principles; establishing a work environment that builds character, strengthening individuals and nurturing families and providing a return on its owner's investment so he can share the Lord's blessings with its 13,000 employees." Would anyone have any doubts about their Christian values after reading that? I'm pretty sure everyone who hires on with Hobby Lobby understands what the owners believe.
Some are saying that the Greens are "forcing their religious beliefs on their employees." Really? So not paying for abortive birth control is forcing their Christian beliefs on people? What part of "abortive birth control" is religious? They're not threatening anyone. They're not telling anyone what to believe. They're not firing women who choose to use the morning-after pill. They're simply saying "If you want that form of birth control we simply cannot pay for it."
Again - the Supreme Court ruled that it's the company's right, based on their professed and protected beliefs, not to pay for that type of birth control. Want to be angry about it? Be angry at Bill Clinton for signing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
It would be interesting to see how the employees themselves feel about the decision. I hope someone does a survey of Hobby Lobby female employees soon to see what their reaction is. Hobby Lobby pays their employees a minimum of $15 an hour - more than enough for most people to afford contraceptives - even those not covered by Hobby Lobby's insurance plans - and provides health insurance plans for their full time employees. That's far better than most companies. And still liberals are complaining?
I'm not opposed to people disagreeing with the Supreme Court's decision on this issue. What I am opposed to is people lying about what it means and about the overall effects. It does not do away with "women's reproductive rights" (whatever those are) nor does it do away with health care coverage for women. If you want to oppose something do so - but do it honestly with factual information rather than lies and propaganda. People will respect you more for it.
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