High profile Democrats are not impressed with the predictably horrible Supreme Court’s decision to give corporations “religious freedom” to avoid laws. The ranking members of the Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Education and the Workforce Committees today issued statements in response to the Supreme Court decision in the case of Burwell v. Hobby Lobby:
Rep. Sander Levin notes that this is a dangerous precedent, “Today’s Supreme Court ruling undermines a woman’s right to make health decisions that are best for her and her family. This ruling not only limits a woman’s access to contraception, it also makes employees of private corporations vulnerable to discrimination when their employer says that the employee’s rights conflict with their religious beliefs. This is a dangerous precedent to set.”
Rep. Henry Waxman notes that a for profit corporation should not have the right to limit women’s access healthcare, “The Court has said that fictional corporations that exist only on paper have more rights than real people who have real health-care needs. It’s one more radical judicial step in making it better to be a corporation than a person. It is particularly offensive that the Court does this in a decision that is so personal for a woman: her decision to have or not have children. For-profit corporations, no matter the size and structure, should not have the right to limit their female employees access to safe, legal, and critically important health care services. We must continue to forcefully oppose efforts to roll back women’s rights to make their own health care decisions and work to make sure all Americans have access to the preventive health services they need.”
Rep. George Miller said SCOTUS just took us backward, “In passing the Affordable Care Act, we were very clear: when it comes to health care, women can no longer be discriminated against, charged more, or denied services simply because of their gender. As a result, the ACA is the most significant piece of legislation for women’s health that this country has seen in decades. The law has broadened access to health care and contraception so that women, not their bosses or insurance companies, can make their own choices about their health care. Today’s Supreme Court decision is another backwards-looking and unwarranted attack on women’s access to health care.”
Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA), Ranking Member of the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, is also troubled by the SCOTUS ruling. He points out that it perpetuates the myth that corporations are people, “I am greatly troubled by today’s Supreme Court decision in the Hobby Lobby contraceptive case. Today’s ruling jeopardizes women’s access to crucial health services and perpetuates the myth that corporations are people. This decision directly contradicts the values of a majority of Americans who believe that women – not corporations – should be in charge of their own health care. Today’s ruling could allow employers not only to impose their religious beliefs about contraception on their employees, but could also allow them in the future to take away other crucial benefits, like vaccinations or HIV screenings. The same Court that decided Citizens United has – with today’s ruling – moved further down the dangerous path of placing decisions that greatly affect Americans’ lives in the hands of corporations. I strongly disagree with today’s ruling and I will continue to fight for a woman’s right to make her own choices about her health.”
Republicans are giving Democrats an easy platform full of bumper sticker slogans heretofore unseen by Democrats. Between Boehner’s threatened lawsuit to impeach the President and SCOTUS taking away women’s rights to healthcare, the conservative movement is handing Democrats easy ways to motivate their base and raise funds.
Boehner’s lawsuit has already raised a million dollars for Democrats. House Democrats raised a 2014 record $584,000 in 24 hours.
And now Democrats can run on the fact that if they controlled Congress, they could rewrite a law to fix this laughable SCOTUS decision.
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
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