Sign In
Close
supreme court rules that hobby lobby can deny contraceptive coverage by Jive
I'm sure most of you have heard by now but, for those who have not...
Not only is this a direct violation of the AHA that was voted on democratically and approved by the vast majority of Americans (remember that huge debate we had about obamacare people?), but can we talk about how utterly absurd it is that 5 cisgender men get to decide that millions of people can now be denied birth control (which is often used to help with other medical concerns, not just to prevent pregnancy) on the bullshit religious standing of a few other old white men?
Can we maybe mention the fact that, of 9 justices, only three are women, all three of whom dissented?
Considering the fact that the 49-page ruling only mentioned women 13 times, instead choosing to focus on the people least affected by this decision (business owners), I'm going to guess the answer is "no."
The media is trying to portray this as a victory for "family owned businesses." That is the biggest load of bullshit I've ever heard. Hobby Lobby may be owned by one group with the same last name, but that's not what this giant corporation is throwing a hissy fit about. This isn't about "religious freedom" for business owners. It's about setting a precedent.
Under this same sort of reasoning, any asshole who runs a company can say "well, I think hiring [gay people/transgender people/atheists/muslims/anyone I deem unworthy of this job] is wrong, it's against my religion," and they can opt out of the (minimal) laws we have protecting LGBTQIAP individuals and even preempt any such laws for other people they consider unsavory.
I'm sick of property rights trumping personal rights and medical safety and bodily fucking autonomy. The justices who passed this ruling are scum, and anyone who thinks the US justice system is at all functional or "fair" is a joke.
Journal Information
- Views:
- 257
- Comments:
- 22
- Favorites:
- 2
- Rating:
- General
Comments
-
-
Not really. We can protest all we want, but Supreme Court rulings are solid. No appeals, no overturning. We just get to deal with the consequences.
-
Also, do you happen to know who this effects? Like if it's a regional thing? I couldn't seem to find my answer online.
-
No, it's country-wide. There's not any specific rules set in place, yet, but basically everyone who needs contraceptive coverage who works at Hobby Lobby is likely fucked unless they can pay for it themselves (and Hobby Lobby pays minimum wage to starting employees and has a typical retail rate of turnover, so good luck with that).
They'll be dropping coverage for birth control, at least, but I wouldn't be surprised if that extends to other forms of reproductive healthcare. I'm sure it at least means morning after pill type of things and abortions will not be covered, as well.But it sets a precedent for other companies to follow. Basically, if you own a company, you can say "my religion is against contraceptives" (because apparently they're murder now) and bow out of paying for them for employees that need them... and the Affordable Healthcare Act can't do shit. We specifically wrote that bit into the AFA, about companies not being allowed to refuse to pay for these things, but oops... the Supreme Court just slapped that down.
So basically, 5 white cisgender dudes just blew a hole right through one of "Obamacare's" main tenants with regard to healthcare for people with vaginas (cisgender women, transgender men, non-binary). And opened the door for a whole lot of abuse of this new loophole... because if someone alleges they were denied healthcare coverage and tries to sue, there's a precedent in place now that says religious beliefs are a good enough reason to forgo the laws.
I don't doubt this will eventually be used to deny people employment/fire people already employed for similar reasons. "It's against my religion" covers a lot of ground.Now, the AFA might pick up costs for many people on some of these things... but that just means the cost is being taken from the taxpayer-funded portion, rather than forcing the employers to help keep their employees healthy.
-
I don't know why I've been saying AFA, I am so tired. AHA. What.
-
... And tenets, not tenants, jesus, I need to pay attention to my spell check.
-
Thank you for explaining this, you're very well-worded! I guess I just can't get over the fact that not only can cisgender men get to make this kind of decision and that somebody else's religion can effect millions of people with vaginas(Not sure if there's a word for 'people with vaginas'?).
-
No problem, and thank you! This is pretty much my life right now (reading/writing about things that make me angry) so I really don't mind the opportunity to put it to some practical use!
I don't think there's a word, exactly, for that! Because genitals and reproductive organs are so heavily gendered, there's not a good one that doesn't have implications of female-ness. I usually just stick with "person/people-with-a-vagina/penis" for most cases. But that doesn't even cover it all, considering intersex individuals. That's something to think about...-
I actually really like to keep up with your journals because of this. I've actually learned a lot from you! I try to educate myself on a lot of things and I feel that reading and asking questions helps me C:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
It feels a bit like a corporation is being treated like a person but women aren't.
Isn't the bible fine with abortion, and by extension the literal control of births?-
Abortion was fine until the women's lib movement started, then the major churches started saying it was evil.
-
That first sentence is very accurate. Corporate personhood apparently extends to your employees' practices and beliefs. So heaven forbid thousands of employees demand a right to reproductive health because it could infringe on the property rights of those at the top. Disgusting.
This isn't about religion. It's about control. Sad.
-
-
Corporate sovereignty advances, and we all march on the way to being peasantry for the capitalist class.
-
We're so far into it, I don't think there's a way out without a major fight now... but no one's ready to go that far.
-
-
I'm just waiting for someone to pop up and "JK" this. This pisses me off to no end. I just got to America recently, this would never happen where I'm from.
-
There was a Fish Factory local to where I used to say, that twenty years ago after it had mishandled it's employees paychecks was set on fire. Which sabotage while rare isn't too uncommon; if you know any friends at specific local smoothie bars, bakeries or places around the mall that have unfavorable managers or working conditions you don't even need to goad them into getting free things. Pissing off employees is bad for business. Same for Governments and Politicians to the population, as not only in the most severe cases of malcontent due we riot but we also vote. May not change That much, but here in the UK after the LibDems had sided with the Tories, raised Tuition Fees, did a U-Turn on scrapping Trident, poisoned the AV motion, and the running joke that they poisoned themselves as a third way party now has people pretending they've forgotten who they are or who their leader is; out of all parties in the recent election they've lost the most from pissing people off.
-
*poised themselves as a third way
-
-
I already boycott hobby lobby. Learned about the bad news yesterday.
I like this country less and less. for more and more reasons I see. -
Jive, find me a list of companies that won't pay their employees coverage and I want to signal boost it all over the place.
Roommate currently says Conestoga Wood Specialties
and Hobby Lobby.
Link
Kitten
This makes me so fucking mad. Is there anything that we can even do about this?