The owners of Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood are not Catholic and say they have no problem offering birth control. There are at least three dozen court cases challenging those rules still pending, according to the National Women's Law Center.įor-profit companies, however, including the plaintiffs in the cases before the Supreme Court now, aren't exempt. Catholic Church officials as well as some others have objected to this requirement. They do not have to provide the contraceptives directly, but must make them available to employees through a third party. Nonprofit, religiously affiliated organizations, such as hospitals and universities, have a separate set of rules. Churches and other strictly religious employers, who primarily employ those of the same faith and whose primary purpose is religious, are exempt from the requirement. Most plans are covered by the mandate, but the federal regulation includes several exceptions. More than half the states have their own " contraceptive equity" laws on the books, many of which include religious exemptions that are similar to ones included in the federal regulation. But the new mandate extends that coverage to all plans, including those in the individual and small group markets, and it requires that the plans offer a specific array of contraceptive options for no cost. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled in 2000 that failure of employer health insurance plans to cover contraceptives was a violation of the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act. Interestingly, for many plans, this wasn't new.
The Obama administration included all contraceptives approved by the Food and Drug Administration as part of a package of preventive services for women. The health law requires that most insurance plans provide preventive care services without out-of-pocket expense to beneficiaries. It's a complicated legal thicket, so here is some background. The court will decide whether those companies, and potentially all other for-profit companies, must abide by the so-called contraceptive mandate. Sebelius, two cases that are being considered together, is expected by the end of this month. Hobby Lobby Stores and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp v. But it will also likely determine how women will be able to access a key provision of the Affordable Care Act – one seeking to guarantee no-cost prescription contraception in most health insurance plans. One of the most watched issues before the Supreme Court this term may turn on the question of religious freedom.
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