Beyond Hobby Lobby

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

by Amanda Krupman, Digital Communications Manager, Colin Powell School

On Monday, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a highly contentious decision in the Burwell v. Hobby Lobby case, in which the Court ruled 5-4 that a for-profit company can invoke religious beliefs in order to deny paying for otherwise government-mandated contraception to their employees.

Three days later, the Court delivered another ruling on ACA-related contraception, this time an unsigned emergency order for injunction for Wheaton College, a Christian college in Illinois. This decision offered another exemption from the Affordable Care Act’s provision of free birth control with all insurance plans. In this case, however, the ruling installs a further barrier to contraception for Wheaton College staff, faculty, and students—and according to a fiercely worded dissent by Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Ginsburg, contradicts elements of the Hobby Lobby ruling and “undermines confidence in this institution.”