The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling this week on birth control coverage under the Affordable Care Act is bound to have far-reaching impact on women, setting what some have already called a dangerous precedent for religious liberty.
In a sharply divided vote, 5-4, in which all the female justices on the court dissented, the court ruled that privately held corporations cannot be forced to provide birth control to their female employees if it violates their religious convictions. The case challenging the birth control mandate was brought to the court by Hobby Lobby, a Christian-owned craft supply chain store, and Conestoga Wood, Specialties.
“Any suggestion that for-profit corporations are incapable of exercising religion because their purpose is simply to make money flies in the face of modern corporate law,” conservative Justice Samuel Alito worte in a majority opinion.
In her dissenting opinion, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer, dismissed the majority view.
“In a decision of startling breadth, the court holds that commercial enterprises, including corporations, along with partnerships and sole proprietorships, can opt out of any law (saving only tax laws) they judge incompatible with their sincerely held religious beliefs,” Ginsburg wrote.
In Michigan, the decision of the highest court in the land is being met with mass condemnations and criticisms of the court from female political leaders as well as advocates of women’s reproductive rights.
“We are deeply disappointed and frankly troubled that somehow the bosses of small privately held companies will interfere with their employees decision with birth control,” said Lori Lamerand, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood in mid and south Michigan. “It is hard to say how many people will be affected by this. When would we see other employers who just decide based on religious beliefs that they won’t provide coverage for their female workers?”
Lamerand said it is important to know that the millions of women who already have birth control insurance will not be affected by this decision.
Democratic National Committee member Debbie Dingell, who is running in the 12th Congressional District, said the ruling was disappointing and denies women equal access to quality health care. She recalled her own struggles in addressing health care for women that led to the founding of the National Women’s Health Research Center.
“When I was in college, a woman friend was ill and needed answers, and I discovered what she needed didn’t exist because, at the time, federally-funded healthcare research did not include women,” Dingell said. “When I started my career in the auto industry I discovered that prostate exams were covered for male employees but mammograms were not covered for female employees.
“Every American including every woman deserves to have equal access to high quality health care coverage regardless of where they work and all of us should have the right to make our own medical decisions without being dictated to or limited by our employers.”
Southfield Mayor Brenda Lawrence, a candidate in the 14th Congressional District race, said the ruling from the Supreme Court and the opposition to the ruling from all of the female justices on the high court underscores the need for more female leadership on the national stage.
“This decision clearly shows why we need more women in leadership positions in the federal government,” Lawrence said. “Even in Michigan we bear witness to the state legislature passing laws restricting a woman’s reproductive health care choices. This needs to stop. We need leaders willing to fight for our core principles as Democrats when they are under attack, including protecting a woman’s right to choose and have equal access to the kind of contraceptive she wants to use.”
Lamerand of Planned Parenthood said it is yet unclear how much of an impact the decision of the court will have on Michigan women. But they should brace for it because it is hard to change jobs in a challenging economy.
“There is not a way out if they want to change employers,” Lamerand said. “This decision will only affect women. The next question is, what else could they decide? Will an employer now pick and choose what they want to cover?”
She said birth control is not a luxury adding, “It is fundamental health care for women and to deny that is shortsighted.”
But Lamerand added, “We are not terribly surprised by the ruling. Certainly politicians in this country and in Michigan have not been very honoring of women, It is not a huge shock when we continue to see the basic reproductive rights of women being eroded.”
She said birth control has reduced abortion among women, something that Justice Ginsburg alluded to in her dissent when she noted that the government has a compelling interest in providing birth control coverage for women.
“Those interests are concrete, specific and demonstrated by a wealth of empirical evidence. To recapitulate, the mandated contraception coverage enables women to avoid the health problems unintended pregnancies may visit on them and their children,” Ginsburg wrote.
Bankole Thompson is the editor of the Michigan Chronicle. Email bthompson@michronicle.com.
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