The Misguided Decision of Five Men

Elanna Cahn — July 9, 2014 – 3:19 pm | Women's Leadership Network | Civil Liberties | Domestic Policy | Reproductive Rights | Women's Issues Comments (0) Add a comment

NJDC’s Women’s Leadership Network has commented on the recent Supreme Court Decision with a Letter to the Editor in the Washington Jewish Week. Click Here for the full article.

When women are healthy, the family is healthy. On June 30, in Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby, five male Justices imposed their own beliefs on the health and welfare of the female employees of Hobby Lobby (“Jews divided on Hobby Lobby decision,” WJW, July 3). The majority opinion based upon “vague moral objections” harms the rights and liberties of women and jeopardizes the health of the family unit. Permitting such broad “religious” exemptions elevates the rights of corporations over the rights of women and their health care choices.

Until this decision, freedom of religion was upheld as a personal right to express devotion to God and act upon the basis of reason and conscience. A private, for-profit corporation does not an individual make. A corporation cannot express reason, dignity, or conscience - all core to religious belief.

But worse than subjugating a woman’s individual religious liberties to that of her employer, the decision’s premise erodes her personal freedom to choose her own method of birth control. This is neither sound medical practice nor instrumental to the viability of a closely held for-profit business.

 

 

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