Free Republic

Senate Democrats introduced legislation on Wednesday to effectively reverse the Supreme Court’s decision last week exempting employers from having to provide insurance coverage for contraception. The law would not allow for-profit corporations to seek exemptions from the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that their health plans cover contraception costs. Religious institutions would still be able to opt out. “Our bill simply says that your boss cannot get between you and your own healthcare,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the bill’s chief sponsor told reporters. “Last week, we saw the Supreme Court give CEOs and corporations across America the green light to design...

The Supreme Court’s decision last week in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby has pushed all the buttons that could be expected when sex and religion intersect. Many on the right are celebrating because they value religious expression and feel rather less excited about sex, especially of the non-procreative variety. And much of the Left is outraged because religion is generally considered of far less import while sexual freedom has a high priority. But both sides are missing the point. It is true that your boss shouldn’t be deciding whether or not your insurance plan includes contraceptives. It is also true that...

Noah told you it was coming and now here it is. Pandermonium: The bill, developed in consultation with the Obama administration, would require for-profit corporations like Hobby Lobby Stores to provide and pay for contraceptive coverage, along with other preventive services, under the Affordable Care Act…“Your health care decisions are not your boss’s business,” said Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, who led efforts by Senate Democrats to respond to the court ruling. “Since the Supreme Court decided it will not protect women’s access to health care, I will.”…Ms. Murray’s bill criticizes the Supreme Court’s majority opinion and repudiates...

As a faithful Catholic with moral objections to forced Christian complicity in both abortion and contraception, I had many reasons to rejoice in the Supreme CourtÂ’s majority decision in Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby written by Justice Alito. Unfortunately, the CourtÂ’s reasoning was not one of them. Two premises in the majorityÂ’s argument were especially troubling: first, the CourtÂ’s assertion of the legal inscrutability of moral and religious beliefs, and second, its assumption of the GovernmentÂ’s claim that contraceptives and abortifacients are necessary for womenÂ’s health and well-being. Contrary to the first premise, I agree with dissenting Justice Ginsburg that...

The leader of the Philippines' Catholic Church, which routinely denounces abortion and contraception, called for the clergy on Saturday to listen more and condemn less, in the latest sign of a liberal shift in the powerful institution. Church leaders exert vast influence in the conservative Philippines, Asia's bastion of Catholicism and the only state apart from Vatican that still outlaws both divorce and terminations. But with many modern Filipino Catholics embracing attitudes that were once considered taboo or frowned upon, and the more conciliatory tone of the Vatican under Pope Francis, there are signs that the Philippine church is softening...

The Supreme Court's recent decision in the Hobby Lobby case demonstrates that the court, at least the five justices who voted in favor of Hobby Lobby, has little concern for, and probably little understanding of, women's health care. By ruling that corporations, on the grounds of the alleged religious views of their owners, can deny women access to some forms of contraception, the court set a horrible precedent that if followed will endanger the health and lives of many American women. The Hobby Lobby ruling may at first seem like a victory for the minority of Americans who think that...

There’s no better wisdom than received wisdom. And when it comes to parroting things she’s heard from people she believes to be smarter than her — which doesn’t really narrow it down — Lena Dunham is tops. Take it away, genius! Lena Dunham ✔ @lenadunham Women's access to birth control should not be denied because of their employer's religious beliefs. 12:50 PM - 30 Jun 2014 4,877 Retweets 6,617 favorites This is true, in theory. It’s also irrelevant, because that’s not what just happened. Lena Dunham is very stupid, but perhaps this analogy might find its way through that geologically...

President Obama’s use of executive power will be a major issue in this fall’s midterm elections. The GOP is rallying its base to give control of the Senate to Republicans as a check on Obama’s powers, and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has announced the House will vote in July on a lawsuit against the president’s use of executive power. Obama, for his part, is embracing the criticism. “So sue me,” he said in a speech last week. The White House believes that by using executive power, Obama can distinguish himself from a Congress he wants to pain as dysfunctional and...

After today's Supreme Court ruling in favor of Hobby Lobby, the left and Democrats are predictably claiming the 5-4 decision bans contraception for women. That claim is completely false. Not to mention, Hobby Lobby itself provides coverage of 16 different types of contraception to its employees.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – ObamaCare's controversial HHS mandate suffered another setback on Thursday, as the Supreme Court voted to allow a Christian college to opt out of signing a form that would result in their insurance company providing employees with “free” birth control and abortifacients. Instead, says the high court, the coverage will kick in after they inform HHS of their religious objection. The 6-3 decision exempts Wheaton College from filing Form 700, which certifies its religious objection to providing abortifacient drugs to women, until the case has been fully adjudicated. In all likelihood, the matter will ultimately be decided by...

Pro-abortion pastors from different “Christian” denominations distributed condoms outside a Hobby Lobby store to protest this week’s Supreme Court decision giving it and other companies the ability to opt out of the Obamacare HHS mandate that compels them to pay for abortion-causing drugs for their employees. This comes after a NARAL board member suggested abortion activists have sex in Hobby Lobby stores as a protest. The Chicago Sun Times has more on what happened: hobbylobby27Christian clergy and activists from different faiths protested outside a Hobby Lobby on Route 59 Wednesday in protest of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that says...

Lawyers in politics seem to have great difficulty understanding the law these days. First, the “constitutional lawyer who sits in the Oval Office” had his hat handed to him by the Supreme Court on a wide range of issues, and with unprecedented unanimity. Now the woman angling to succeed him, who is often described as an accomplished attorney herself, apparently can’t be bothered to familiarize herself with a case before rendering judgment on it. Hillary Clinton gets two Pinocchios from the Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler for her remarks on the Hobby Lobby case, but probably deserved two more for...

Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court decided Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, and ruled the federal government could not require closely-held corporations to provide no-cost contraception for their employees. Although that was the question before the Supreme Court, there were many things the Supreme Court didn’t have the jurisdiction to rule on yesterday.  And the most important of these issues--the basic premise at the root of the case’s ideological divide--was not up for debate: that contraception is preventive health care. Yes, contraception prevents pregnancy--that’s the whole point--but why is pregnancy considered to be a disease? It is an odd disease that is...

Out actor George Takei has criticized a Supreme Court decision declaring that some for-profit companies may block their employees' access to certain birth control methods. Hobby Lobby challenged the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) requirement that insurance health plans include coverage for FDA-approved contraception, arguing that the law violates the company's religious freedom. “In this case, the owners happen to be deeply Christian; one wonders whether the case would have come out differently if a Muslim-run chain business attempted to impose Sharia law on its employees,” Takei said in a blog post. “As many have pointed out, Hobby Lobby is the...

WHEN BUSINESS owners enter the public marketplace, they should expect to follow laws with which they might disagree, on religious or other grounds. This is particularly true when they form corporations, to which the government offers unique benefits unavailable to individuals. The Supreme Court weakened that principle Monday. Congress should revitalize it. The justices ruled on the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate, which requires employer-based health insurance policies to provide contraception to covered employees. Several corporations challenged the law, insisting that the mandate unlawfully infringes on their owners’ religious rights. In a 5 to 4 ruling, the court agreed with...

America's crazy, patchwork health-care system just took another hit. Which would you prefer: to have the ability to decide for yourself and your family the type of coverage you want to purchase on a health insurance exchange—and having your premiums subsidized by a defined contribution or voucher from your employer—or to cede that ability to your employer entirely, having them pick your insurance for you, but empowering them to decide, based on their personal religious beliefs, which services to cover and which to exclude? After Monday’s Hobby Lobby decision, this is exactly the type of choice that more and more...

When the Supreme Court released their decision inHobby Lobby v. Sebelius on Monday it started the race to understand what it means for the other challenges to the contraceptive mandate in Obamacare. The Hobby Lobby case established that the mandate violates the religious freedom of private, family owned companies, but a number of religiously affiliated non-profit organizations have challenged the mandate as well. Obamacare includes an exemption from the mandate for churches, but that does not extend to thousands of religiously affiliated organizations like hospitals, colleges, universities, religious schools, and charities. For example, Tyndale House Publishing, which is owned by...

Thanks to AG Conservative for that headline. First “don’t ask, don’t tell,” then DOMA, now RFRA: Precisely how many statutes signed by Bill Clinton are the Clintons currently horrified by? It’ll be fun during President Hillary’s administration to try to identify the various laws that Senator Chelsea will be forced to repudiate circa 2036. Part of the reason I was so adamant about including women and girls in our foreign policy, not as a luxury but as a central issue is because they’re often the canaries in the mine,” Clinton said. “You watch women and girls being deprived of their...

Looked at from a distance, it may seem as if the Supreme Court struck a mighty blow in defense of religious liberty in the case of Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, which it decided this week. Yes, the court ruled that a law called the Religious Freedom Restoration Act could apply to "closely held" corporations, and under its terms the federal government could not force the Christian family that owns Hobby Lobby to provide insurance coverage for certain drugs and devices that violate the family's religious beliefs. But looked at more closely, the case shows how profoundly the Supreme Court has...

Last night former National Organization for Women President Patricia Ireland made an appearance on Fox News' Hannity to discuss the Supreme Court's decision on Hobby Lobby earlier this week. When asked by Hannity how many forms of contraception Hobby Lobby offers employees, Ireland had no idea. The answer is: 16 different kinds. Hannity: Do you know how many kinds of birth control Hobby Lobby offered as part of their plan? Ireland: I don't know.