Welcome to HobbyLobbyLand!
David Green sincerely believes some falsehoods. Specifically, he imagines IUDs and emergency contraceptives, such as Plan B and Ella, prevent fertilized eggs from implanting in a woman’s uterus. In fact, emergency contraceptive pills work by delaying ovulation or making it harder for sperm to swim to the egg (not by preventing implantation of a fertilized egg). David Green combines rejection of scientific understanding with his convictions about abortion—he believes preventing a fertilized egg from implanting in a woman's uterus is abortion. And because he has a sincerely held (yet medically untrue) quasi-religious belief, the billionaire David Green believes the corporation he controls is exempt from certain legal mandates in the Affordable Care Act.
David Green sincerely believes some falsehoods. Specifically, he imagines IUDs and emergency contraceptives, such as Plan B and Ella, prevent fertilized eggs from implanting in a woman’s uterus. In fact, emergency contraceptive pills work by delaying ovulation or making it harder for sperm to swim to the egg (not by preventing implantation of a fertilized egg). David Green combines rejection of scientific understanding with his convictions about abortion—he believes preventing a fertilized egg from implanting in a woman's uterus is abortion. And because he has a sincerely held (yet medically untrue) quasi-religious belief, the billionaire David Green believes the corporation he controls is exempt from certain legal mandates in the Affordable Care Act.
David Green and his family own Hobby Lobby, a chain of retail stores with 21,000 employees and more than $2 billion in annual revenues (#194 on Forbes list of largest privately held corporations). In its recent lawsuit, Hobby Lobby claims the ACA is forcing the owners "to violate their deeply held religious beliefs." The corporation deserves protection under the free exercise clause of the First Amendment, because, you know, Hobby Lobby is religious. Never mind denying equal protection to actual real human beings. Forget the fact these prescriptions are medically necessary for some individuals. Ignore Hobby Lobby profiting from the same pharmaceuticals the corporation supposedly opposes on moral grounds*. Please disregard the fact Hobby Lobby profits from deploying the first amendment against its employees. Pay no mind to the fact that Hobby Lobby insurance plans covered these drugs until 2012 when the lawsuit was filed. And who doesn’t want corporations intruding in the doctor-patient relationship? Patients and doctors ought not make medical decisions the boss doesn’t like!
The Greens are certainly allowed to hold beliefs that contradict scientific medical research. But make no mistake; irrational myopic loathing of Obama and wrong-headed reckless Randian individualism drives this lawsuit. We are entering a strange and terrible place: corporations are people and therefore possess religious expression; corporations may re/define medical facts (not scientists or doctors); and corporations meddle in the medical decisions of employees. But at least there will be more unplanned pregnancies!
Prognosticating from based oral arguments, SCOTUS will side with Hobby Lobby. If the Supremes strike down portions of the contraception mandate in order to protect sincerely held religious convictions of corporations, we can look forward to businesses hiding behind quasi-religious “beliefs” to justify expanding bigotry and discrimination.
Welcome to HobbyLobbyLand.
*Several of the mutual funds in Hobby Lobby's retirement plan have holdings in companies that manufacture the specific drugs and devices that the Green family is fighting to keep out of Hobby Lobby's health care policies: the emergency contraceptive pills Plan B and Ella, and copper and hormonal intrauterine devices.