The Supreme Court has just agreed to hear a pair of cases that will determine whether corporations whose owners oppose contraceptives and abortion on moral grounds have the right to refuse coverage for those insured under their plan.
Under Obamacare, insurers must cover many common birth-control options for women. And, many religious non-profits have been awarded exemption to this law. However, these new cases will center around for-profit corporations' rights to oppose coverage based on moral grounds. How moral, exactly, is a corporation?
At the center of the two cases are Hobby Lobby, a 500-plus arts-and-crafts store chain, and Conestoga Wood Specialties, a woodworking business run by a Mennonite family. In both companies, the owners have strong religious convictions and they hope to find exemptions similar to those awarded to churches and some religiously affiliated schools.
Both companies have stated that they don't have an issue with covering tubal ligation surgeries, diaphragms, condoms, and other forms of contraceptions, but instead object to the (unproven) possibility that hormonal contraception interferes with the implantation of an embryo. At the crux of the decisions will be how "religious" a for-profit, secular business can be. And, whether their (possibly not religious) employees will be affected by denial of hormonal contraceptives. (The New York Times)