A Supreme Court ruling this week is said to honor the rights of the owners of privately held corporations so that, if they wish on religious grounds, they cannot be forced to provide emergency contraceptive care as part of their health plan. Religious institutions, such as Catholic Hospitals already had the right to do so. The privilege has been expanded now to also include closely held corporations. There seems to be an uproar in the news. Supreme Court Justices are being accused of having corporate sponsors and to be beholden to them for certain as if they had corporate sponsors. They have, according to some reports ruled with corporations 88% of the time in recent months.
This time I might just agree with the Justices. I would not want to be forced, on matters of principal, to violate my deep religious belief in order to maintain a policy established by the government. While some liberal political pundits are crying ‘foul’ and making it sound like Armageddon, I want to be especially careful when it comes to mandates by government bodies. I do not agree theologically with the stands of the two companies involved in this case nor do I think that this or any other case should be decided on the feelings of the populace. I cannot think of a current example where my rights might be infringed upon by a legal mandate but I would want to be able to exercise my religious rights.
I agree that employers should want to give coverage to their employees. We must also recognize that the two corporations that brought the original lawsuit both include routine contraceptive medication, it is the emergency or “morning after” pill that they object to and the court has narrowly defined the response to include only those four medications. I am aware that this medication saves countless unwanted children, but the written opinions included a reference indicating that the government might be the more logical choice, paving the way towards a single payer system.
We have rights in this situation as well. We have the right to not go to work for these companies, to organize boycotts, to refuse to shop. We have the right to make our own choices regarding emergency birth control procedures and of course we have the right to pay for those procedures ourselves and on behalf of others. Maybe the church needs to step up and make those drugs available to any Hobby Lobby or Conestoga Wood Specialties employees who cannot get them through their employer. THAT is a stand I would fight for!
Hobby Lobby has in the past demonstrated that their beliefs are strong enough to stand up to the economic pressures (they close on Sundays to give employees the Sabbath) I respect that. Let your beliefs lead you to stay away from the places of business whose practices you disagree with, whether as a customer or as an employee. And begin to think of that in broader terms as well. What about a fair wage, employee’s rights to unionize, or a corporation’s treatment of the community and its people; if your morals guide your shopping there are some tough choices to make.
This is a difficult issue but look carefully before judging and look into the details.
