As the only US-based organization focused on amplifying the voice, presence, and influence of non-religious women, Secular Woman, through our @AbortTheocracy project, is committed to protecting reproductive freedom. As such, we have a particular interest in ensuring that everyone receive access to preventative care, including the full range of FDA-approved contraceptives and related education and counseling––without cost sharing––as intended by the Affordable Care Act.
Secular Woman has signed on to the National Women's Law Center’s amicus brief in Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Sebelius. These cases involve for-profit companies challenging the health care law's requirement that all new health insurance plans cover the full range of FDA-approved contraceptives and related education and counseling, without cost sharing.
Among the plaintiffs in this case is Hobby Lobby, a craft supply chain with over 13,000 employees across the country. Hobby Lobby’s leadership wants to impose religious beliefs upon employees by denying comprehensive health care that includes birth control.
“Companies have no right to dictate a formulary simply because their employees do business with that insurer,” says Becca Thomas, director of @AbortTheocracy and Secular Woman board member. “Individuals don’t have the right to force their religious choices on others––why should corporations?”
Thomas adds, “Under the previous administration the HHS ruled that it was discriminatory to exclude a specific class of drug from a formulary. It was decided that to do so was discrimination. That we are revisiting this issue is absurd.”