Let’s not be distracted by the hype. At the heart of the recent Hobby Lobby Supreme Court decision, the issue was solely about power. The majority decision, delivered by Justice Samuel Alito, and even the oral arguments from Hobby Lobby, instead tried to cloak the corporation’s discriminatory, anti-woman, anti-family practice of denying to cover certain birth control methods under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. Since corporations are currently granted “personhood” under the law, the rights of corporations now officially seem to outweigh those of women.
Health care benefits are part of the workers' pay. It is compensation for their work. With this decision, Hobby Lobby and the other 100 corporations are dictating how the workers can spend their own hard-earned money. This particular decree of what a female employee can and cannot do with her money is merely a power struggle and has to do with the power of the reproductive autonomy of women. The Roberts-led Court’s weak 5-4 majority decision in favor of Hobby Lobby’s exemption is misogynistic, anti-family and completely unjust. Yet, despite the misguided majority opinion penalizing women for being women, the views of a corporation’s representatives do not outweigh the views and morals of its employees. Do you believe a legal contract has more intrinsic value than a human woman?
In addition to the civil rights violations, this decision places undue burdens on American women. For a full-time, minimum-wage earner to afford an intrauterine device — effective, but now no longer covered — she will have to save about a month of earnings. For a male employee at the same business to obtain medicine for erectile dysfunction, he has to save approximately $4. Vasectomy? Covered. Hobby Lobby, et al, relied on pseudo-science before the Supreme Court; Not one of the birth control methods in question induces abortions.
In an ideal world, there would be equality between genders. Equality is the goal of feminism. As the world stands, men hold a position of power and privilege over women. With this decision, the Roberts-led court made gender parity (which National Organization for Women and other feminist groups are striving for) and equality, a more distant dream.
Women and men interested in learning more about how to join the fight back against this unjust, anti-woman decision are welcome to join the Gainesville Area National Organization of Women. GainesvilleNOW.org
[Whitney Mutch, Vice President, Gainesville Area NOW. A version of this letter to the editor ran on page 7 on 7/17/2014 under the headline "Letter to the editor: Hobby Lobby decision"]
