Posted on 06/30/2014 3:57:58 AM PDT by markomalley
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to announce a critical decision on religious freedom Monday: Can a private company be forced, under Obamacare, to provide contraception and abortifacients to its workers, in violation of the owners' deeply held relgious beliefs?
"The government will not violate anyone's religious beliefs, but no one has the right to discriminate against a woman because of her own beliefs. And I believe that the Supreme Court will find that no business...should be allowed to discriminate against women," Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) told "Fox News Sunday."
What about the owner's right to religious freedom? host Chris Wallace asked Becerra.
"The owner has a right to his or her religious beliefs," Becerra conceded, "but that doesn't mean you get to discriminate against women if women have different beliefs than what the owner has, and the woman wants to exercise her rights under the Constitution."
Appearing with Becerra, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) said he believes the health care law -- "as interpreted by the president, violates the First Amendment of the Constitution, and I'm hoping the court will uphold the rights of individuals for their expression of their religious freedoms."
Invoking the authority of the Affordable Care Act, the U.S. Health and Human Services Department issued a regulation requiring all employers to provide birth-control coverage as part of preventive services in their health-insurance plans, or else pay a fine. But the owners of Hobby Lobby and Conestoga say the government is compelling them to violate their religious beliefs as Christian business owners.
A key question for the justices is whether a for-profit business has religious rights under federal law or the Constitution.
The Family Research Council, in a friend of the court brief, argued that Catholic teaching sees no difference between an individual’s private and commercial activity; both are considered governed by one’s religion.
But Democrats, in their amicus brief, argued that when they passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, they did not intend it to apply to for-profit corporations.
Other have argued that Obamacare's contraception does not violate the free exercise of religion, because it doesn’t require Christian business owners to take contraception themselves if they have religious objections.
During oral arguments before the Supreme Court in March, liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan questioned whether Hobby Lobby could simply choose not to offer health insurance at all and pay the tax instead.
But Justice John Roberts said the owners have expressed a "religious commitment" to provide health care for their employees.
DemonicRats and RINOS are complicit in the genocidal murder of 55 million unborn children in the U.S., which has given aid and comfort to the enemy. Justice requires that, for a start, the leaders of political, judicial, medical, business, media, and other pro-abortion advocacy organizations be indicted, tried, convicted, and sentenced for their crimes against humanity.
I watched Bacerra on Fox’s Sunday morning talk show. This guy is a complete puke and a skid mark on the highway of humanity. It was evident that he is devoid of even an ounce of integrity and although I have no training in the psychological sciences, I’m sure what I was seeing is a mental illness.
no woman has a right to insist society compensate for her own irresponsibility. No woman has the right to irresponsibility
A woman that does is a drag on society and can be destroyed
“Thirty years ago in grammar school my class had a 3:2 boys to girls ratio; today my sons have similar imbalances in their classes. Abortion will be restricted when a pattern becomes clear; in the meantime, some of us guys will simply have to marry imported women...”
Maybe the war on unborn women is to promote an “alternative” lifestyle....(ugh).
Pre-Obamacare, not all private health insurance policies covered the drugs in question. It seems to me that this is more about forcing the state's orders down our collective throat than it is about discrimination of any sort.
Also, I'll bet some prominent Democrats are invested in the pharma companies that make these specific drugs.
I may have missed it, but no one seems to get the irony here. Or is it hypocrisy? Actually, I think it’s both at the same time.
To wit...if you are a Christian woman who owns a business, and are forced to buy birth control for your employees...YOU are being discriminated against...both as a Christian AND as a woman.
I hate liberals. I hate stupidity. I hate liars.
With Obama, you get all three at once.
Seriously??
So if you engage in a business for evil profit you negate your constitutional rights??
When did Women lose their God given right to freedom and liberty??
Why are Women beholden to a controlling Master (Government) which dispenses food and condoms to those Women who vote Progressive, and do not get uppity and agitate for more rations?
What about the Man in her life. Is the Women not an equal in their relationship?? Why can’t they pay for their own condoms?
What happened to personal responsibility?
There is no religion other than Marxism in America.
Pray America wakes up
I fully expect Roberts to again betray America and the COnstitution. He is damaged goods. Once compromised, subsequent betrayal become easier for the weak-minded.
but can a government discriminate against a Christian. To be decided today.
No one has a right to discriminate against my religious convictions.
If, among those convictions, contraception and abortion are anathema, then just leave me alone. I am not preventing any women from doing whatever they want, I am just refusing to PARTICIPATE or ASSOCIATE myself with their behavior.
The DemonRATS and their collectivist-statist cabal are not fooling me with their desconstructionist rhetoric.
I’m sorry, what “constitutional right” is the hypothetical woman exercising? I don’t recall the amendment that vouchsafes a right to birth control. Can someone help me out on that?
On the other hand, I DO recall some mention in the Bill of Rights about the free exercise of religion. It was one of the early ones ... maybe even the First ...
Oh, she only meant Guatemalan children sneaking across the border for free stuff.
Pre-Obamacare I didn't get my birth control for free. I don't understand that one either.
Some one show me in the Constitution where it says I have to provide any employee any contraception services or ANY HEALTH CARE of any kind.
> If the court rules against Obama today its going to send him the rest of the way over the edge.
I almost expect the Satanists to win given the current path we’re on
> How about “I should not be forced to buy anything for anyone else if that violates my Freedom”. Freedom is freedom. Once you start dividing it you diminish it. I hate this notion that you get to be free only if it violates your religious beliefs. Won’t work in the end. I am a Christian.
I wonder how the DemonRats would feel if I forced them to pay some of my bills against their will?
“No, we won’t pay for you to kill an unborn baby”
is
“discriminating against women”?
Only in the mind of a despicable rat of corrupted mind.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.