Until today, many women would argue that feminism was unnecessary because that fight had been won. Even showing them the last several years of Republican attempts to steal their freedom from them legislatively didn’t move them. But Monday’s Supreme Court ruling is something that will impact a majority of women in America.
The Supreme Court just gave Republicans their dream decision in the Hobby Lobby case, so now women who want birth control will have to go ask their Big Daddy boss for it. In Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby, this very conservative court voted to give corporations the right to refuse to cover contraception. (The way Republicans have argued this is totally not slut shaming at all, it’s just that if you sluts want sex, you’ll have to pay for it on your own, Lazy Lucys.)
Of course, women know that birth control is used for more than just birth control. Women use it for all kinds of medical reasons that the boys in the Republican Party don’t seem to understand, but then, they believe in legitimate rape and shutting that whole thing down so who can blame them.
Here’s the question via SCOTUS blog:
Whether the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000bb et seq., which provides that the government “shall not substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion” unless that burden is the least restrictive means to further a compelling governmental interest, allows a for-profit corporation to deny its employees the health coverage of contraceptives to which the employees are otherwise entitled by federal law, based on the religious objections of the corporation’s owners.
The answer is, of course, yes. This court loves them some corporations and so a corporation’s right to impose their religion is more important than a woman’s access to life saving birth control under a medical insurance plan. Let’s just say that somewhere in America right now there is a group of women coming up with a religion that is against pacemakers and Viagra and they are very much looking forward to proving their point.
But before that happens, there is an election this year. And nothing motivates people to get out the vote like being spat on collectively and publicly, so thanks SCOTUS!
GAME ON. Women are already fighting back:
Terry O’Neill, the President of the National Organization for Women, quickly sent out an email calling for donations, “NOW is going all out this year to educate and mobilize voters, tell them where the candidates stand, and make sure these voters get to the polls on Election Day. But we can’t do it without your help!”
Debra L. Ness, President, National Partnership for Women & Families, issued a statement calling the ruling shocking, “Today’s U.S. Supreme Court rulings in the Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. cases are deeply troubling – even shocking, in that the Court is allowing some bosses to deny women coverage for something as basic as birth control. Whether it affects 500 or 5,000,000 women, this is a dangerous and appalling intrusion that takes the country backward and undermines women’s health…
Women who thought, in 2014, that their birth control coverage was secure now have to stop and consider the views of their bosses. That is truly outrageous.
As Justice Ginsberg said in her dissent: ‘Working for Hobby Lobby or Conestoga, in other words, should not deprive employees of the preventive care available to workers at the shop next door …’ We could not agree more.
Birth control is basic, essential health care for women. It is dangerous for everyone that the Court allowed bosses control over our health care.
This is as troubling as any Supreme Court ruling in recent years. We will not rest until every woman in this country has coverage for the birth control she needs.”
Amanda Metskas, President of the Secular Coalition for America, said today’s decision by the court will allow employers to impose their religious beliefs on their employees and interfere with the employees’ personal health care decisions.
“This is a sad day for anyone who believes in true religious freedom. With this decision the Supreme Court set a terrible precedent for religious interference in individual choice,” Metskas said. “This decision allows for-profit business owners to impose their religious preferences and practices on their employees, leaving the religious freedom of millions of Americans at the mercy of their individual employers.”
Yeah, women are not pleased and they are just getting warmed up. And as anyone on the receiving end of a woman’s justified anger can tell you, an angry woman is an opponent who should not be underestimated.
I’d wager that all of the men who enjoyed sex without babies are also not impressed. That’s kind of a big tent.
That noise you just heard was death rattle gasp of the GOP tent. The Republican Party now officially stands for taking access to birth control (life-saving) away from women, as well as regulating a woman’s eggs even before they are fertilized or implanted. That’s a super interesting way of standing for “freedom”, but one that will not stand the test of time.
Binders Full of Women will get out the vote this fall. They will keep voting until this travesty is put to rest. Thanks, SCOTUS, for waking up the women of America.
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