Health Care Fairness

Contraception is a core preventive health service for women, including bisexual women and lesbians, for treating endometriosis, related pelvic pain and other health problems as well as for preventing pregnancy. Coverage of all FDA-approved contraceptives was guaranteed by the Affordable Care Act.

The U.S. Supreme Court today ruled 5-4 that some for-profit companies can assert religious rights to block their employees’ access to group health plan coverage for FDA-approved contraception as required by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).

In its Citizens United ruling that corporations have free speech rights that can trump campaign finance laws, the U.S. Supreme Court essentially agreed with the worldview Mitt Romney espoused on the campaign trail: “Corporations are people, my friend.” We may soon feel further reverberations of that worldview.

The U.S. Supreme Court today heard oral arguments in two cases challenging the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that FDA-approved contraception be among the basic preventive health care services included in insurance coverage for employees.