U.S. Supreme Court gets it right in Hobby Lobby case

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled 5-4 that forcing closely-held corporations to provide all forms of birth control to all female employees violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act because it overly burdens the consciences of the Christian owners of the three corporations involved in the decision. This is a victory for religious rights. Of course, feminists and others on the left are crying foul, saying this violates women's rights and that companies have no religious rights.

They are wrong on both counts. First, this case is not about contraception. It is about religious freedom. Women -- who are not forced to work for any company -- still have the right to use contraception, and none of the employers in this case said otherwise. In fact, two plaintiffs in the case, Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood, agreed to pay for 16 of the 20 federally mandated contraceptives under the HHS statute. They just objected to being forced to pay for the ones that cause an already conceived embryo to be terminated, a.k.a. aborted.

Female employees of both companies still have the right to use any one of these four contraceptives in their own private time if they choose. The company owners, who have deeply held religious beliefs against abortion, just don't have to be forced to pay for them now.

It’s interesting how feminists howl about keeping the government "off our bodies and out of our bedrooms" but they have no problem allowing the government to force private citizens to pay for what goes on in the bedroom, even if it violates a private citizen's beliefs.

As for the argument that U.S. closely-held companies don’t have religious rights, such as the plaintiffs in this case, these companies are run by human beings. The companies are not some autonomous, robotic function that exists independently of human input. The human beings running such companies - in this case American citizens - should not be forced to forfeit their religious rights simply because they decide to start a private business. This is precisely what the US Supreme Court put forth in its ruling.

To hold that a private business owner must forfeit his religious rights in order to run a business means that American citizens only have religious rights when they are in the confines of an actual church, or within the privacy of their own homes. That is not what the Constitution guarantees. The First Amendment says the government cannot prevent the free expression of religion. It does not say that private citizens need to keep their beliefs private and hidden from the public square, or that the government can force them to go against their conscience. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act underscores this right.

Some argue that it’s not fair that companies shouldn’t have to pay for some forms of birth control while other companies pay for things like Viagra. The key difference is that no company is forced to pay for Viagra - which does not prevent or destroy life -- while the companies in the Supreme Court case were being forced to pay for abortifacients.

As much as the left wants the country to believe this ruling means that companies like Hobby Lobby are imposing their views on women and that women will lose their rights to contraception - such as Hillary Clinton is now saying - it is nothing but a political smokescreen. A smart woman - regardless of her political affiliation - will see right through it and realize that stripping some citizens of their religious liberties for the benefit of others is antithetical to true freedom for everyone.

In fact, it seems the ones who should be most in favor of the court decision are feminists. After all, it is this group that has historically exalted the values of independence and autonomy, yet they have become fixated on being dependent on others for certain forms of birth control, even against a citizen’s will. Unfortunately emotions prevail over reason.

The simple truth is, the plaintiffs in this case were not and are not forcing their employees to stop using contraceptives, so they are not imposing their views on anyone. What the Supreme Court did was tell the government that it cannot strip employers of their religious rights, and by extension, employees cannot impose their private choices on their employers.

Unfortunately, the only reason this case got as far as it did is because we have an administration that is resolute in destroying the Constitution. This case should never have seen the light of day because it should never have even been an issue in a supposedly free country.

The Supreme Court’s decision – while it does not remove the threat of those who will continue trying to strip citizens of their religious freedoms -- it does give a much-needed shot in the arm to defend this fundamental American freedom. While liberals will no doubt twist the case to court votes in November’s election, I hope voters will see the bigger picture and celebrate the defense of authentic liberty that was at the heart of this case. 

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