The Hobby Lobby Case Is Here
Tomorrow the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a closely-watched lawsuit brought by Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood. When it rules on these cases this summer, the Supreme Court will decide whether the religious beliefs of the owners of for-profit corporations can be used as a justification to deny the company’s employees the contraceptive health coverage they are entitled to under the Affordable Care Act. While these cases are specifically about the Affordable Care Act’s birth control benefit, the High Court could open the floodgates to discrimination in the name of religious belief.
Why Should You Care? Consider the potentially slippery slope of Hobby Lobby. A poorly decided Hobby Lobby decision has the potential to go beyond “corporations are people, my friend.” It has the ability to dramatically transform religious liberty from a fundamental value that protects religious beliefs into a loopholes that can be used to discrimination, dictate women’s health choices, evade federal protections, and promote unfair advantages in the corporate world. The following infographic details the potential consequences that a poorly decided Hobby Lobby ruling could have on our nation.
Are You In D.C.? If so, join Generation Progress to rally at the Supreme Court in support of the birth control benefit provided by the ACA. RSVP here!
BOTTOM LINE: Religious liberty is a core American value and progressives believe in religious liberty for all, not just for some. Religious liberty means religious liberty for everyone. And that includes the freedom from having the theological doctrines of your boss or those of business owners in your community being forced upon you.
The upcoming Supreme Court cases are not really about religious liberty, they are about minority of individuals seeking a license to ignore laws and regulations they disagree with in order to discriminate against women, and others.