March 26, 2014

What ever happened to that secular society that our Founding Fathers envisioned?

I don't know how many of you are watching the Supreme Court case Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., but you might want to pay attention.
For those unfamiliar, it is basically a religious freedom case in which Hobby Lobby has declared exemption from the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) provision that says employers that provide insurance to their employees must be sure that insurance covers contraception with no co-pays. Hobby Lobby balked at this because, by golly, wimmen should be pregnant as much as possible cuz it is what the good lord intended.
They argue that allowing the women who work for them to actually receive the birth control pill as a fully covered prescription is a violation of their "deeply held religious beliefs." In addition there are at least three deeply religious, astronomically conservative justices on the Court who ALSO think that women should not be taking birth control pills willy-nilly.
Today, one of them -Chief Justice John Roberts- suggested that "closely held" businesses might be given greater latitude with religious freedom than a large public company.
The error in this argument is mind boggling. The Supreme Court is VERY close to deciding that YOUR company, if it is "closely held" -and I'm betting A LOT of you work for "closely held" companies- and is the source of your medical coverage, can decide what your insurance covers. Granted, this case is specifically looking at contraception (for women) because that is suddenly a thing that we are no longer allowed to control. Our wombs are being taken over by old white men who are being giant assholes about it. But, the arguments in Court are addressing a corporation's religious rights (and whether they are legally allowed to impose them on their employees). If the Court rules in favor of Hobby Lobby, technically there is nothing to prevent your company (provided, of course, that it's "closely held") to limit your access to anything the owner might deem offensive to his or her deeply held religious beliefs.
First they made corporations people. Now they're making corporations religious. And they are allowing those religious corporations to impose their beliefs on their employees who, apparently, have no recourse.
Let's all hope that saner, secular heads prevail, but based on the past shenanigans of this Court, you  might want to stock up on your prescriptions now, while the stuff is still covered.

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