I think there are several things that qualify me to address the Hobby Lobby decision. I am a lawyer. I am a Christian. My wife and I have sex. My wife and I use birth control. The icing on the cake? I work for a closely-held Christian corporation that’s similar to Hobby Lobby in many of its convictions.
The Decision
First, a brief word on the decision. It is true that, because of the ruling, those for-profit who claim the religious exemption will not have to pay for those four forms of contraceptive coverage in the insurance plans they make available to their employee. BUT it’s also true that insurance companies will now have to provide a separate policy that does so at no extra charge to the employees. So, the Court reasoned, all women will still get free birth control. Even Hobby Lobby employees. Everybody wins!!!
Lots of Sex
I’m not here to do a thorough legal analysis though. I went through all of that last week via status updates on Facebook (many of them are public, so have at it). I’m here to talk about sex. Got your attention? Good.
My job willingly covers birth control under its insurance plan. I am grateful every time I walk up to that Walgreen’s counter and pay $2.00 for a three month supply of birth control for my wife. Here’s the thing though. If my company decided tomorrow that it would no longer offer a form of contraception (though the Hobby Lobby list only includes morning after pills and certain IUD’s, but let’s assume it’s the one we use) on a list of twenty, my wife and I would be okay with it. We’d look in that list for the nineteen other items my company did cover. I’d walk down another aisle at Walgreens, grab a pack of condoms (or some other form listed), and do what married folks do (or what they should do).
We’re Flexible
Then I’d go back to work the next day, open up my flex spending account, add some more funds for those nineteen other forms of contraception (did I mention there were nineteen other forms of contraception on the list) my company WILL pay for, and enjoy tax-free marital bliss. In the words of Jalen Rose, I’ll keep “gettin’ those [FSA] checks”.
Here’s the thing. My wife and I wouldn’t feel like my company was regulating her womb, like some of the “Monday Morning quarterback” rhetoric going around. Nope. We’d would appreciate the company for its founders’ strong religious conviction. Though we wouldn’t agree, we still would feel it is the company’s right (based on a strong conviction) to refuse to cover certain forms of contraception. A right protected by our Constitution. What I would do is thank God for employment, extensive medical coverage, and the ability to go with other alternatives. I’ll leave all the complaints to those who have way more time on their hands than I do to fight a bloody culture war.
