The battle over religious exemptions for companies

What happened

A majority of Supreme Court justices this week appeared sympathetic to two private companies that want to be exempted from the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate on religious grounds. The landmark case was brought by Hobby Lobby, a private for-profit arts-and-crafts store owned by evangelical Christians who object to having to provide in their employee health insurance four contraceptives they deem to be forms of abortion, including the morning-after pill and intrauterine devices (IUDs). During 90 minutes of oral arguments this week, conservative justices expressed support for the idea that certain closely held corporations could object to government mandates on religious grounds, as churches and nonprofit religious organizations can. The four liberal justices fiercely objected, arguing that giving companies the right not to cover contraception would hurt their female employees economically, and create a “slippery slope” of exemptions to other medical procedures, such as vaccines and blood transfusions. “Could an employer preclude the use of those items as well?” asked Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

With the court split along the usual ideological lines, the deciding vote will probably rest with Justice Anthony Kennedy. He expressed sympathy with female workers who might be put in a “disadvantageous position” by their employer, but seemed concerned about for-profit companies being compelled to “pay for abortions.” A decision is expected in June.

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What the editorials said

Hobby Lobby is a “secular, for-profit” corporation that makes billions in profits, said The New York Times. Its owners, David and Barbara Green, are protected by incorporation from any personal legal liability for Hobby Lobby’s actions. Yet the Greens want veto power over which methods of birth control their employees choose to use. The only real threat to liberty in this case “comes from owners trying to impose their religious beliefs on thousands of employees.”

The Obama administration needlessly picked this fight, said The Wall Street Journal. It sensibly gave nonprofits and churches an exemption from the contraception mandate, and the administration did not need to force the small number of highly religious business owners “with moral aims to implicate themselves in what they consider to be grave moral wrongs.” Under the First Amendment, Americans are guaranteed the free expression of religion, said NationalReview.com. That right doesn’t end when they go into business. The decision in this case “will be only incidentally about what kind of health insurance we have—it will be about what kind of country we have.”

What the columnists said

Can we really be arguing about birth control in 2014? asked gynecologists Jeanne A. Conry and Nancy L. Stanwood in CNN.com. About 98 percent of women use contraception at some point. As for the IUD, it’s 20 times more effective than the birth control pill and costs upward of $400, so leaving it out of health coverage puts a real burden on low-wage employees. Science has also proven that it prevents fertilization, and thus does not cause abortions. “Are we really ready to give corporations the right to control the lives of their employees?” said Gene Robinson in TheDailyBeast.com. Under Hobby Lobby’s argument, I could argue that my religion teaches that “races were unequal and should be kept separate,” or that women can’t be supervisors. “There would be no end to the chaos that would ensue.”

Hobby Lobby deserves special consideration, said Ken Starr in USAToday.com. The Green family’s Christian beliefs permeate every aspect of the company’s practices: Christian music plays in the stores, which are closed on Sundays, and millions in profits are donated to Christian charities every year. Hobby Lobby already provides 16 of the 20 contraceptives mandated by Obamacare. The company just doesn’t want to be complicit in providing those abortifacients they find “morally repugnant.”

Progressives thought this case was a slam dunk, said Jay Michaelson in TheDailyBeast.com. “Of course companies can’t pick and choose which laws to obey.” But, but based on the oral arguments, with Kennedy showing apparent sympathy for Hobby Lobby’s position, everyone will now be surprised if the Obama administration doesn’t lose this case.