These two cases were brought by the for-profit companies and argued that requiring them to include contraception in their employees' health plan violates their religious liberty rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). The ACLU co-coordinated the amicus effort in support of the government, and filed a brief on behalf of Julian Bond, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and others, arguing that religious beliefs should not be invoked to justify discrimination.
The federal contraception rule is part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It is a regulation that was promulgated as part of the ACA that requires health insurance coverage for a host of women's health issues, including domestic violence screening and prenatal care. As a result, health insurance plans must include all FDA-approved contraception without a co-pay or a deductible. The rule does not apply to houses of worship, like churches, and provides an accommodation for religiously affiliated nonprofit entities. That accommodation allows the nonprofit organization to opt-out of the requirement by sending a form to its insurance company, which then provides contraception coverage directly to the nonprofit's employees. Although some nonprofits have challenged this accommodation because they object to filling out that form, the accommodation was not before the Supreme Court in these cases (but they are working their way through the district courts and the courts of appeals).
In these cases, there is a threshold question of whether corporations are "persons" under the statutory definition of RFRA. Companies like Hobby Lobby and Conestoga are using religion as a license to discriminate and now the U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed this by siding with them. The ACLU certainly upholds their freedom to exercise their religion but we do not support the imposition of their beliefs upon employees. The ACLU of Idaho is concerned about the precedence this Court ruling will set in our own state. Will we continue to see escalated legislative attacks on women's reproductive health, our LGBT friends and family members, as well as free speech all in the name of religious freedom?
While we do not have a crystal ball foretelling the future minefield that this decision has created, we know that the ACLU and the ACLU of Idaho will be watching the legislature, corporations and helping residents gain access to their most basic of freedoms. Through your donation, we can continue fighting for women - click here to support our work.