Hobby Lobby sues to deny coverage for Plan B

Hobby Lobby (a Christian company) and several others are suing the US Government to to try to restrict their employees access to Plan B contraception through their insurance.

"These abortion-causing drugs go against our faith," said David Green, founder and chief executive officer of Hobby Lobby Stores Inc, in a call with reporters. "We simply cannot abandon our religious beliefs to comply with this mandate." (source Chicago Tribune)

There is so much wrong in this one quote that I find it really hard to read the reports without face-palming several times.

Let's start by getting the first elephant out of the room and picking this apart.

One:

Plan B is not an abortion-causing drug.  It does not terminate an existing pregnancy, it prevents implantation.   It is emergency contraception, often used if other contraception fails (condoms break, yo).  One of the other major uses is after a rape has occurred to ensure that the victim doesn't get pregnant.

However, many Christians believe that life begins at conception.  That is their belief.   As such, their belief should not dictate what others do according to their beliefs.

Two:

They are trying to dictate how and when their employees use their insurance.  Insurance is usually paid into (at least partly) by the employee, and it is also considered part of their salary.  No company has the right to control how employees use their salary when they are off the clock.  If they want to donate to a charity (religious or otherwise) fine, it's their money.  If they want to spend it on hookers and blow, knock yourself out, just be willing to pay the legal consequences.  If you and your doctor decide you need emergency contraception, nobody has the right to deny it to you.  Women need to be allowed to be in control of their own health and bodies, not to be controlled by what others deem to be right, moral, or acceptable.  

And that is what it comes down to, control.  

Replace Plan B with, oh let's say antidepressants.  Perhaps the company is run by Scientologists that don't believe that mental illness is real.  The insurance that they offer allows for psychological/psychiatric care and prescription drugs.  If Hobby Lobby is allowed to do this, would this company be allowed to do the same and restrict access to therapy and medication to those that suffer with mental illness?  I guess as long as it is a Christian faith it's reasonable right?

Wrong.  Oh so wrong.

Three:

And this one is a doozy.  Nobody is asking you to abandon your religious beliefs.  May I direct you to this fantastic document Is Your Religious Liberty at Risk?, particularly #3.  

Just because you cannot force others to adhere to your religious beliefs does not mean that your rights are being trampled on, quite the opposite, it is you doing the trampling.  Is anybody forcing the corporate big-wigs to use any kind of contraception (no matter how much some people would like to)?

No.  Don't believe in it?  Don't use it.  Don't like it?  Okay.  But as soon as you try to force your employees to follow the tenets of your faith, you are in the wrong. 

This whole debacle also brings to light how religion seeks to control others, particularly women.  Is Viagra and other boner pills covered under their insurance.  Most likely.  Is standard birth control covered?  Yes, because it is discriminatory against 50% of the population to deny coverage of a medication just because it is used exclusively by women.

Why don't they want to cover Plan B?  Because those loose women with shady morals shouldn't ever be having sex unless it is for the sole purpose of procreation.  Yet, from a financial standpoint, isn't covering contraception and Plan B a whole hell of a lot cheaper than covering 18 years of doctor's visits?

This is just one in a list of companies that are trying to overstep their authority, and I for one will not support it.  The best way to show my disagreement is with my wallet.  And before you think this would be easy for me, let me tell you that I am a knitter and crocheter.  I really like some of the yarn that Hobby Lobby sells, they have a great selection and their prices are usually noticeably lower than their competition.  For certain craft supplies, I feel that they are the best place to find them, but no longer.

I am sick and tired of the religious right acting as though their faith gives them special powers to lord over everybody else, and acting like crybabies when they are told that it doesn't.