Hobby Lobby Health Care Request: Justice Refuses To Block Morning-After Pill Rule
12/26/12 06:23 PM ET EST AP
WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Wednesday denied a request to block part of the federal health care law that requires employee health-care plans to provide insurance coverage for the morning-after pill and similar emergency contraception pills.
Hobby Lobby Stores and a sister company, Mardel Inc., sued the government, claiming the mandate violates the religious beliefs of its owners.
In an opinion, Sotomayor said the stores fail to satisfy the demanding legal standard for blocking the requirement on an emergency basis. She said the companies may continue their challenge to the regulations in the lower courts.
Company officials say they must decide whether to violate their faith or face a daily $1.3 million fine beginning Jan. 1 if they ignore the law.
Attorneys for the government have said the drugs do not cause abortions [ c below ] and that the U.S. has a compelling interest in mandating insurance coverage for them.
In ruling against the companies last month, U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton said churches and other religious organizations have been granted constitutional protection from the birth-control provisions but that "Hobby Lobby and Mardel are not religious organizations."
Earlier on HuffPost:
Lies And Distortions Of The Health Care Reform Debate [ .. slideshow inside .. ]
No, using emergency contraceptive pills (also called "morning after pills" or "day after pills") prevents pregnancy after sex. It does not cause an abortion. (In fact, because emergency contraception helps women avoid getting pregnant when they are not ready or able to have children, it can reduce the need for abortion.)
Emergency contraceptive pills work before pregnancy begins. According to leading medical authorities – such as the National Institutes of Health and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists – pregnancy begins when the fertilized egg implants in the lining of a woman's uterus. Implantation begins five to seven days after sperm fertilizes the egg, and the process is completed several days later. Emergency contraception will not work if a woman is already pregnant.
The way emergency contraceptive pills work depends on where you are in your monthly cycle when you take them. EC works primarily, or perhaps exclusively, by delaying or inhibiting ovulation (release of your egg). It is possible that EC may affect the movement of egg or sperm (making them less likely to meet), interfere with the fertilization process, or prevent implantation of a fertilized egg. The copper in Copper-T IUDs can prevent sperm from fertilizing an egg and may also prevent implantation of a fertilized egg.
For more discussion about how emergency contraception prevents pregnancy, click here. You can also read a thorough and up-to-date academic review of the medical and social science literature, including research into how emergency contraception works, by clicking here .
.. just to remind others that these preemptive-prevention-of-pregnancy drugs do not cause abortion .. in that case the claim that insuring them would violate any religion is a bit hazy to me .. lol .. that's the way i see it through my haze anyway .. chuckle ..
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