After the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision that corporations have religion too and thus can dictate one of the most private and personal aspects of their female employees' lives, the White House
looked to Congress to find a way to overrule the decision. There are some real legislative options to fix this. Congress could amend the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to clarify that your boss' freedom of religion doesn't trump your life, or they could create a new program to provide coverage for the women in the companies that are opting out. Or they could amend Obamacare to exempt all or part of it from the RFRA. There are any number of legislative solutions, and not a damned one of them will work. That's because we don't have a Congress that will do legislation. Now introducing legislation is the
right political move for Democrats, because fighting Hobby Lobby will win women. But it won't pass.
No, that fix isn't happening, so it's going to be up to President Obama to find a way out. And he has options, as laid out by law professor Jonathan H. Adler:
The easiest and most rapid response would be for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide objecting for-profit employers with the same accommodation offered to religious institutions. Indeed, the very existence of this accommodation undermined the administration’s position before the Supreme Court, as it was hard to simultaneously argue that there was no less restrictive way to provide access to contraception while providing just such an alternative to religious institutions. Expanding the accommodation would be relatively easy, and could be done quickly through an interim final regulation.
It could be done quickly and easily, but some religious institutions already have suits arguing that having anything to do at all with the existence of this law—even signing a piece of paper saying they should be exempt—violates them. Anybody have any doubt that when this one reaches the Supremes, they'll rule against the religious groups? So, what's next?
A more direct way to enhance contraception coverage would be for the federal government to provide such coverage directly. Yet while Congress could authorize such a program, it is not clear that HHS has the authority to take this step on its own. I am not aware of any provision in the PPACA or other law that would authorize appropriations for this purpose. Of course, were HHS to try and take such a step unilaterally, it's not clear who would have standing to challenge the move.
A final step the administration could take would be to enhance access to contraception by making all forms of oral contraception available over-the-counter without a prescription (and not just “Plan B”). While this would not make contraception “free” it would reduce the cost, and help alleviate some of the non-monetary obstacles women face.
How about both? Obama should take this fight to Congress, assume it has the authority to provide the coverage directly and dare Boehner to sue him again. Hell, dare him to impeach. This is a good fight to pick. He's in a fighting-with-Congress mood. Don't stop now.
From a policy standpoint, there is no reason why birth control pills can't be over-the-counter drugs. They're safe. Most of the rest of the world allows it. Having them readily available in any drug store will make access much simpler for women. Putting them out on the shelf will force pharmaceutical companies to lower their prices to compete and reflect better their actual cost—they're one of the cheapest drugs out there—and make it affordable even without the insurance coverage.
There's no way this fight for women's health is the wrong thing to do, for any Democrat. Look to Congress, Mr. President, and keep highlighting the Republican war on women. But don't stop there.