Hi there,

Please don’t turn away from this message. Democracy Now! is a free source of independent news for tens of millions of people around the world, but less than 1% of our global audience donates to support our critical journalism. Let’s pick up the percentage! Today, a generous contributor will DOUBLE your donation to Democracy Now!, which means if you give $10, we’ll get $20. Please don’t miss out on this opportunity to double your impact. Democracy Now! doesn't accept advertising income, corporate underwriting or government funding because nothing is more important to us than our editorial independence. We rely on you for support—and we’re counting on you right now. I hope you’ll give as much as you can today. Every dollar makes a difference. Thanks so much.
-Amy Goodman

Non-commercial news needs your support.

We rely on contributions from you, our viewers and listeners to do our work. If you visit us daily or weekly or even just once a month, now is a great time to make your monthly contribution.

Please do your part today.

Donate

Supreme Court: Hobby Lobby Can Refuse to Cover Birth Control

Web ExclusiveJune 30, 2014
Listen
Media Options
Listen

In a blow to women’s access to contraception, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that Hobby Lobby, and similar closely held corporations with religious objections to birth control, can refuse to include birth control in their employee’s healthcare plans. Analysts are still interpreting the impact of the decision.

Watch our past coverage of the case above, when we interviewed Brigitte Amiri, senior staff attorney with the Reproductive Freedom Project at the American Civil Liberties Union.

The majority opinion in today’s ruling, was written by Justice Samuel Alito. He argued, “Under the standard that [the Religious Freedom Restoration Act] prescribes, the HHS contraceptive mandate is unlawful.” Alito was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Anthony Kennedy.

In her dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg wrote: “In a decision of startling breadth, the Court holds that commercial enterprises, including corporations, along with partnerships and sole proprietorships, can opt out of any law (saving only tax laws) they judge incompatible with their sincerely held religious beliefs.”

Justice Elena Kagan added in a separate dissent: “Congress has made a judgment and Congress has given a statutory entitlement and that entitlement is to women and includes contraceptive coverage, and when an employer says, no, I don’t want to give that, that woman is quite directly, quite tangibly harmed.”

In a brief submitted to the court, the Guttmacher Institute noted many women cannot afford birth control and that the law would reduce abortions and unintended pregnancies. It also cited studies that show nearly 15 percent of birth control prescriptions are written for non-contraceptive purposes, and help some 1.5 million women with ovarian cancer, ovarian cysts, endometriosis, and endometrial cancer.

Related Story

StoryApr 10, 2023“Unconscionable”: Planned Parenthood’s Alexis McGill Johnson Slams Texas Ruling on Abortion Pill
The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top