Hobby Lobby is a private American company owned by Christians. Like all private / public companies in the U.S., Hobby Lobby has to comply with the new health care law commonly called ObamaCare. One requirement is that companies provide birth control in their health coverage. Hobby Lobby complied - at least by carrying 16 of the 20 approved contraceptive methods. The company refused to allow the other 4 because they were linked to the "morning after pill ", which Hobby Lobby claimed were forms of abortion. The Christian owners said their moral right of refusal was guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution and reaffirmed in the 1993 law, The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). That law was signed into effect by Democratic President Bill Clinton, who at the time said he approved it "to protect perhaps the most precious of all American liberties" - the right to practice your religious beliefs. The RFRA sailed through the House of Representatives unanimously and passed the Senate by 97 -3.
Well that's it then, case closed. Right? Wrong! Under President Obama, the full weight of the federal government attacked Hobby Lobby in court. The case traveled through the court system, until finally at the U.S. Supreme Court, 5 out of 9 justices ruled in favour of the company. That was a few days ago but the response from the left has been mind-numbing. Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, said "it's time that 5 men on the Supreme Court stop deciding what happens to women". (He voted for the RFRA in 1993) Democratic Party chairperson, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, warned "Republicans want to do everything they can to have the long hand of government and now the long hand of business, reach into a woman's body and make health-care decisions for her". Hundreds of left-wing academics, politicians and activists have echoed this outrage in the American news media and simple-minded television talk shows. Even Hilary Clinton disowned her husband's 1993 law by describing the RFRA as part of "a disturbing trend that you see in a lot of societies that are very unstable, anti-democratic and frankly prone to extremism" which is "women and girls being deprived of their rights", including "control over their bodies".
Hold on everybody! Take a deep breath! Look at the facts! Hobby Lobby approved 16 of the 20 birth control methods in their health insurance for employees. They disallowed 4 / 20 because they lead to abortion.
So why the outrage? Why the crocodile tears? The answer is - SPIN! Now the left has an issue they can sell to the American people - the Conservatives' War on Women! What a beautiful, clever way to steer the national debate away from the real issues - President Obama's incompetence. Here is just a partial list of real problems that should be dealt with:
- economic recovery after the 2008 -9 recession is the slowest in living memory. Real disposable income is stagnant. GDP fell by 2.9% in the first quarter of 2014.
- the national debt at 17 trillion dollars and rising is a national disgrace.
- corruption in federal agencies like Veterans Affairs and the Internal Revenue Service is rampant.
- the southern U.S. border is so porous that a tide of illegal children and adults is flooding the American homeland.
- voter confidence in President Obama (according to a June 8 Gallup poll) is 29% - the lowest approval rating for any president in recorded history.
- the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in 4 separate cases that Mr. Obama has exceeded his authority as president - and that's just in the last 2 weeks.
The list goes on and on. The point is that spinning a minor Supreme Court decision into a "war on women" diverts attention from the real issues. It reminds me of the passenger on the Titanic who rearranged the deck chairs while the ship sank.
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