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 Amid the troubled rollout of the health law, and 17 months after
the justices upheld it, the Obama administration is defending a
provision that requires most employers that offer health insurance
to their workers to provide a range of preventive health benefits,
including contraception.
Roughly 40 for-profit companies have sued, arguing they should not
be forced to cover some or all forms of birth control because doing
so would violate their religious beliefs.
Both sides want the justices to settle an issue that has divided
lower courts. The high court could announce its decision whether to
take up the topic as early as Tuesday, following its closed-door
meeting.
Arguments probably would take place in late March with a decision
expected in late June.
The key issue is whether profit-making corporations can assert
religious beliefs under the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Nearly four years ago, the justices expanded the concept of
corporate "personhood," saying in the Citizens United case that
corporations have the right to participate in the political process
the same way that individuals do.
The administration wants the court to hear its appeal of the
Denver-based federal appeals court ruling in favor of Hobby Lobby,
an Oklahoma City-based arts and crafts chain that calls itself a
"biblically founded business" and is closed on Sundays. Founded in
1972, the company now operates more than 500 stores in 41 states and
employs more than 13,000 full-time employees who are eligible for
health insurance. The Green family, Hobby Lobby's owners, also owns
the Mardel Christian bookstore chain.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said corporations can be
protected by the 1993 law in the same manner as individuals, and
"that the contraceptive-coverage requirement substantially burdens
Hobby Lobby and Mardel's rights under" the law.
In its Supreme Court brief, the administration said the appeals
court ruling was wrong and, if allowed to stand would make the law
"a sword used to deny employees of for-profit commercial enterprises
the benefits and protections of generally applicable laws." In two
other cases, courts ruled for the administration. Conestoga Wood
Specialties Corp., a Pennsylvania company that employs 950 people in
making wood cabinets, is owned by a Mennonite family. Autocam Corp.
is a Michigan-based maker of auto parts and medical devices that
employs more than 650 people in the U.S.
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The companies that have sued over the mandate have objections to
different forms of birth control. Conestoga Wood objects to the
coverage of Plan B and Ella, two emergency contraceptives that work
mostly by preventing ovulation. The FDA says on its website that
Plan B "may also work by preventing fertilization of an egg ... or
by preventing attachment (implantation) to the womb (uterus)," while
Ella also may work by changing of the lining of the uterus so as to
prevent implantation.
Hobby Lobby objects to those two forms of contraception as well as
two types of intrauterine devices (IUDs). Its owners say they
believe life begins at conception, and they oppose only birth
control methods that can prevent implantation of a fertilized egg in
the uterus, but not other forms of contraception.
Autocam doesn't want to pay for any contraception for its employees
because of its owners' Roman Catholic beliefs.
Physicians for Reproductive Health, the American College of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists and other medical groups tell the
court that the scientific and legal definition of a pregnancy begins
with implantation, not fertilization. Contraceptives that prevent
fertilization from occurring, or even prevent implantation, do not
cause abortion "regardless of an individual's personal or religious
beliefs or mores," the groups said.
But another brief from the American Association of Pro-Life
Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Catholic Medical Association
and others say in a separate filing that "it is scientifically
undisputed that a new human organism begins at fertilization."
Emergency contraception that works after fertilization "can end the
life of an already developing human organism," regardless of the
definition of pregnancy, they said.
[Associated
Press; MARK SHERMAN]
Copyright 2013 The Associated
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