The US Supreme Court dealt a blow to ObamaCare on Monday, ruling that the law’s birth-control mandate violates the constitutional rights of employers with religious objections.
By 5-4, the panel sided with a chain of arts and crafts stores that challenged the controversial Affordable Care Act, President Obama’s signature legislation.
The Hobby Lobby chain had argued that the section of the law requiring all new health insurance plans to pay for contraceptives was unconstitutional because it violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
The company’s owners said the requirement to cover birth-control products such as Plan B and Ella violates their religious liberty, since they equate use of the drugs to stop a pregnancy with abortion.
The White House claimed the ruling puts the health of women at risk.
“Today’s decision jeopardizes the health of women who are employed by these companies,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. “We will work with Congress to make sure that any women affected by this decision will still have the same coverage of vital health services as everyone else.”
Earnest said Obama was still reviewing the ruling’s implications, including which companies it would cover and how many employees would be affected. But the president’s ally, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, said the impact could be huge.
“Although the court restricted their ruling to ‘closely held’ companies, this ruling will immediately affect the lives of millions of women across the country,” Pelosi said.
ObamaCare opponents applauded the court’s decision, hailing it as a victory for religious liberty.
“Today’s Supreme Court decision makes clear that the Obama administration cannot trample on the religious freedoms that Americans hold dear,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ken.).
The majority opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito, emphasized that the decision was narrow in scope.
“We do not hold, as the principal dissent alleges, that for-profit corporations and other commercial enterprises can ‘opt out of any law (saving only tax laws) they judge incompatible with their sincerely held religious beliefs,’ ” Alito wrote.
Mayor de Blasio chimed in, too. “The #HobbyLobby decision is a loss that undermines the progress we’ve made for women and their access to reproductive care,” he tweeted.