Rep. Karen Bass (D- Culver City) weighed in on the controversial Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby U.S. Supreme Court decision on June 30, which ruled that corporations that hold certain deeply held religious views cannot be required to provide contraceptive coverage for their employees.
“I join a chorus of voices in condemning the United States Supreme Court decision Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote in her dissenting opinion in the case, this decision creates a ‘startling breadth’ and sets up a situation where ‘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,’” Bass said in a statement after the verdict.
“This decision moves America backwards. It puts bosses in the middle of decisions about contraception and leaves the door open to employers being able to deny coverage of other essential health services such as a child’s vaccine or a life-saving blood transfusion based on religious beliefs. These decisions should be between patients, their families, and their doctors—not middle managers and CEOs.”
The 5-4 ruling does not cover all companies but allows those with a certain number of employees and claim their religious views run contrary to providing contraceptive insurance not to provide a full range of contraceptive coverage.
The congresswoman’s opponent in the November general election in the 37th Congressional District, Republican Adam King, took a more nuanced view of the ruling.
“The issue here is whether [corporations] should have their religious right or not if their religion professes that life starts at conception. And even though I think their religious opinion is wrong, that life doesn’t start at conception, I feel that now more then ever religion in this country needs to be protected as it is under attack from a plethora of sources,” King, who lists himself as a community leader and entrepreneur, said. “I’m glad that there was a ruling in favor of religion, I do think however we need to debate religion on religious sources and come to a stable conclusion as of what ‘religion’ deems is the beginning of life. A ruling there would alleviate this debate entirely.”
Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito said the Obama administration failed to show that the contraception mandate contained in the Affordable Care Act is the “least restrictive means of advancing its interest” in providing birth control at no cost to women.
“Any suggestion that for-profit corporations are incapable of exercising religion because their purpose is simply to make money flies in the face of modern corporate law,” Alito wrote, adding that by requiring religious corporations to cover contraception, “the [Health and Human Services] mandate demands that they engage in conduct.”
Sandra Fluke, a social justice attorney who rose to fame in 2012 for her advocacy of requiring insurance plans to cover contraceptive care, said the 5-4 decision could lead to certain firms refusing to provide healthcare to women and their families.
“The Court ruled that such corporations have religious rights under federal statute, just as individuals do. Corporations are not people. Corporations cannot have religious views. And this decision sends us in a dangerous direction,” Fluke said. “In the area of healthcare alone, the court’s decision allows companies to deny coverage of numerous healthcare services. The majority opinion barely addresses this concern.
“Why is birth control—an uncontroversial form of care used by an astonishing number of women—different from blood transfusions and vaccines, which many individuals have religious objections to?” asked Fluke, who is running for the 26th District state Senate seat in November. “The fact is, it’s not. This case sets a dangerous precedent and can be used in the future to go far past birth control.”
King, who comes from an Orthodox Jewish background and says he does not believe that life begins at conception, noted that Hobby Lobby, an Oklahoma City-based retail arts and crafts chain, pays its employees “well above the minimum wage. They also supply 16 out of the 20 birth control methods to their employees for medical benefits. Out of these four they don’t want to cover, at most they cost $300 dollars, for an [intrauterine device] with Progestin; the other three are all less than $100.”
Bass, a former nurse and physician’s assistant who has endorsed Fluke in her state Senate race, blasted the high court for what she deemed as an intrusion into citizens’ private matters.
“Americans’ medical decisions—especially about contraception–simply do not belong in a corporate board room. Indeed, nearly ninety percent of Americans–including over eight percent of Catholics, say birth control is morally acceptable,” Bass said. “Once again, America will be picking up the pieces of another [U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John] Roberts’ Court decision for years to come.”