Myth And Spin After The Hobby Lobby Decision

 Myths and spin fly after Hobby Lobby decision. 

Some common questions, with answers. David Lauter in the Los Angeles Times.

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Free birth control is emerging as a standard. "This week the Supreme Court allowed some employers with religious scruples to opt out, but most companies appear to be going in the opposite direction. Recent data from the IMS Institute document a sharp change during 2013. The share of privately insured women who got their birth control pills without a copayment jumped to 56 percent, from 14 percent in 2012. The law's requirement that most health plans cover birth control as prevention, at no additional cost to women, took full effect in 2013. The average annual saving for women was $269." Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar in the Associated Press.

Here's what everyone has been missing in this debate. "Ginsburg, in her scathing dissent...made an important point about women's health that's been almost entirely overlooked elsewhere: For many American women, the birth-control pill has nothing to do with controlling births. It's a life-saving medicine....The decision...may affect millions of women who suffer from a variety of medical conditions. These women depend on the pill to regulate their hormones and do everything from ease pain to reduce the risk of cancer. These medical benefits have nothing to do with sex or the prevention of pregnancy....Even if these women never have sex once in their lives, they need to be on birth control." Lucia Graves in National Journal.

DOUTHAT: A company that liberals could love. "Of course I’m talking about Hobby Lobby, the Christian-owned craft store that’s currently playing the role of liberalism’s public enemy No. 1....But this isn’t just a point about the company’s particular virtues. The entire conflict between religious liberty and cultural liberalism has created an interesting situation in our politics: The political left is expending a remarkable amount of energy trying to fine, vilify and bring to heel organizations — charities, hospitals, schools and mission-infused businesses — whose commitments they might under other circumstances extol." Ross Douthat in The New York Times.