Posted: September 22, 2015 Contributor: PRJKT RUBY
Federal Court Rules Against Obamacare Birth Control Mandate
Women’s rights have suffered another hardship this month.
A federal appeals court has ruled that the Affordable Care Act violates the rights of employers who are religiously affiliated by forcing them to provide contraceptive coverage for their employees.
What does this mean for you? Well, if you work for any of these religiously affiliated non-profit businesses, you won’t be getting affordable birth control under Obamacare. In light of the recent ruling, these non-profit, religious employers may opt out of paying anything toward contraception cost by filing an exemption request.
While conservatives who have been fighting Obamacare for years are celebrating, many feel that denying female employees any contribution toward the pill is violating their rights.
This battle began shortly after the signing of the health-care law in 2010. Nearly 100 lawsuits have been filed from businesses and religiously affiliated hospitals and colleges who have claimed that the mandate “unjustly burdens” them.
The Affordable Care Act essentially makes it mandatory for businesses to cover all types of birth control in their employee health plans. Prior to this recent ruling, religiously affiliated companies were able to opt out of directly funding contraceptives by making medical insurance pay for them, but many organizations still felt this indirectly connected them to the ability to obtain contraception. – something which they claimed violated their constitutional rights.
Many religious organizations have said that their beliefs are being overlooked. Many in the Catholic religion have cited that the use of contraceptives is directly against their religion and furthermore, funding emergency contraception is believed to be an abortion – which is also against the beliefs of the catholic church.