The Supreme Court has ruled—7-2—in favor of the Little Sisters of the Poor and other organizations. The Court upheld the Trump administration’s rule exempting these employers from an Obamacare requirement to provide insurance coverage that includes contraception.
Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the Court:
We hold today that the Departments had the statutory authority to craft that exemption, as well as the contemporaneously issued moral exemption. We further hold that the rules promulgating these exemptions are free from procedural defects.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented.
…this Court leaves women workers to fend for themselves, to seek contraceptive coverage from sources other than their employer’s insurer, and, absent another available source of funding, to pay for contraceptive services out of their own pockets.
Ginsburg is being disingenuous in this. Contraceptives are dirt cheap in Walmart and drug stores. It’s no great burden for “women workers” to pay for contraception “out of their own pockets.” If it’s a burden to seek “contraceptive coverage” from other sources, that’s the direct result of Obamacare driving up the cost of all coverage.
Ginsburg is being sexist in this. Condoms are nearly as cheap and even more widely available. But Ginsburg is blithely assuming that contraception is solely the responsibility of the woman.
Thank you thank you thank you! I couldn’t believe what she wrote in her dissent! Why is she outright lying about this..are women too stupid to know how cheap contraception is? I’m insulted by this! I am a woman who can do for myself…and yes..walk-in any drugstore and buy your contraception..it’s less expensive than a bottle of shampoo and conditioner…all women should be insulted by this!
all women should be insulted by this!
That’s kind of my thought, too–from Ginsburg’s assumption that women need to be done for rather than be allowed to do for themselves.
And by the rank sexism of Ginsburg’s assumption about who is responsible for contraception.
Eric Hines