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  • The Supreme Court recently ruled that Hobby Lobby has the right to limit what contraceptives

  • are offered in its employees healthcare plan. A decision that some people are calling a

  • win for religious rights and others are calling a loss for Women's Rights. So, what is Hobby

  • Lobby and what did the court actually decide?

  • Well... Hobby Lobby is an arts and crafts company based out of Oklahoma City, with more

  • than 500 locations around the U.S.. It is a privately held corporation owned by devout

  • Evangelical Christians. They claim that some contraceptives offered under the Affordable

  • Care Act are against their religious beliefs and they didn't want to be complicit in providing

  • their employees access to these birth control measures. 5 out of 9 judges on the supreme

  • court agreed with Hobby Lobby and ruled in their favor.

  • Still. This ruling is very controversial. According to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg,

  • who wrote the dissent to the Supreme Court's decision, there are tons of reasons the court

  • should have decided against Hobby Lobby.

  • First off, What about Hobby Lobby's female employees and their freedoms? Doesn't this

  • decision deny these employees access to contraception? Employees may not even share Hobby Lobby's

  • beliefs.

  • Plus, the government wasn't forcing Hobby Lobby to give their employees contraception,

  • they were forcing Hobby Lobby to leave that choice up to the employees and the employees

  • doctors. Again making it a personal rights issue.

  • And what about the court's ability to stand up against other religious beliefs in future

  • cases? Jehovah Witnesses are against blood transfusions? Christian scientists are against

  • vaccinations? What's to stop business owners with those beliefs from taking away those

  • options?

  • According to Justice Ginsburg we don't really know and she thinks that all of these concerns

  • should have been taken into greater consideration. So, why didn't the court vote Ginsberg's way?

  • Well, there are a slew of political reasons, but there is also a legitimate legal argument

  • centering around the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

  • It basically says that the Federal Government can not substantially burden a person's exercise

  • of religion even if that burden was put in place as a federal law. In this case Hobby

  • Lobby was going to be burdened with huge fines for not following the federal laws put in

  • place by the affordable care act.

  • The court upheld the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and Hobby Lobby won. The decision was

  • also eased along by the fact that non-profit organizations were already exempt from the

  • same section of the affordable care act that Hobby Lobby was refusing to follow. Plus,

  • the courts believe that the government could come up with a better way to get these contraceptives

  • The ruling as written only applies to "closely held" corporations, those that have at least

  • 50% of their stock owned by 5 or fewer individuals. And it is limited to the contraceptives in

  • question and does not extend out to other laws or religious beliefs. Sorry Jehovah's

  • Witnesses, your beliefs on blood transfusions aren't going to be considered, for some reason.

  • Contraception only.

  • Still, critics have questions. Why didn't the court look into the validity of Hobby

  • Lobby's claims that the contraceptives in question were against their religious beliefs.

  • Is the morning after pill technically abortion?

  • Why didn't the court reopen the question of corporate personhood? If corporations can

  • be people, can they be religious people?

  • Why didn't they look at how this affects the rights of women? Are employers qualified to

  • speak to issues of women's health? Should religious groups be allowed to dictate what

  • health care women can and can not have access to?

  • A lot of people are having strong reactions to the ruling, if you are one of them let

  • us know what you think down below in the comments. And if you found this video informative, please

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The Supreme Court recently ruled that Hobby Lobby has the right to limit what contraceptives

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