What Scalia's Death Means to 'The Little Sisters of the Poor'

The Supreme Court has yet to hear arguments on the Little Sisters of the Poor's case regarding being forced to provide contraception under ObamaCare.  However, Justice Scalia's death may have just sunk their cause.  Unless at least one liberal Justice votes to side with the sisters, at the very least, there would be a split-decision along party lines.  In that case, their lower court loss before the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals would stand.  Thus, it would be the first time in the history of the U.S. that the high court would deny someone their religious rights under our Constitution with no possible redress unless ObamaCare is repealed.

And, don't think that other decisions by the court won't result in liberal wins for the very same reason.  It is unbelievably strange that Scalia -- a devout Catholic -- would have possibly hurt the Little Sisters -- a Catholic charitable organization -- through his own death.

References:

Court rules against Little Sisters of the Poor: Government to force nuns to violate faith or pay massive IRS penalties: http://www.becketfund.org/tenth-circuit-rules-against-little-sisters-hhs-mandate/

This Is What Happens When the Supreme Court Is Tied: http://time.com/4220760/supreme-court-tie-antonin-scalia/

A devout Italian Catholic and a Ronald Reagan appointee, Scalia was one of the most conservative members of the bench, and he was known not just for his legal mind, but for his Catholic core:  http://time.com/4220768/antonin-scalia-dead-catholic-legacy/

How The Hobby Lobby Supreme Court Decision Is Being Distorted By Media

In headline after headline, the Supreme Court decision, siding with Hobby Lobby, is being grossly distorted by calling it a decision against a woman's reproductive health; or, more generally: contraception.  This is a complete lie.

What is not being told, is the fact that Hobby Lobby and the other litigant, Conestoga, already provided insurance with contraceptive coverage for 16 of 20 methods of contraception that were mandated by ObamaCare; meeting the contraception needs of 95% of the women working at their companies. Their's was not an argument against providing contraception or, somehow, a kind of war against women's reproductive health.  What they did object to is having to be told by Obama and his Department of Health and Human Services that they have to provide therapeutic abortion drugs such as Plan B as part of their medical insurance plans.  This is the only and true basis of their religious objection.

I think one of the most distorted headlines about the Supreme Court decision was this from NBC: "Hobby Lobby Ruling: Employers Don't Have to Cover Birth Control."  It paints "employers", in a broad brush fashion, being able to deny birth control coverage. That is simply a lie.  The decision by the high court was limited to companies that are non-public owned and whose ownership is closely held by, for example, a family -- as was the case for Hobby Lobby.  All other employers must comply with the ObamaCare mandate to provide total contraceptive coverage; including abortive drugs.

The reality is that many, if not most employers had already provided some forms of contraception; and, they did so long before ObamaCare.  It is just good business in several ways.  Coverage of contraception is a recruiting tool that is able to attract good, qualified female employees; just as other benefits would.  Also, a pregnancy can be very costly to a company.  Under existing laws, women are entitled to maternity leave with their jobs held for them when they return.  As a result, companies must hire some form of temporary help to cover the loss of a woman on leave.  While some lower level jobs are easy to cover with temporary help, some higher level vacancies must be supplemented with extremely expensive consulting and contract labor.

Now, one last important note.  ObamaCare is designed to literally destroy the system of employer-based insurance in this country.  That's why the penalty for not providing it is so low; relative to the cost of providing insurance. So, the Hobby Lobby win is a moot point because, that company, like so many others, will probably elect to pay the ObamaCare employer mandate tax penalty and force their employees to buy their own insurance through the exchanges; assuming ObamaCare hasn't been repealed.  And, once an employee is in the exchange, all forms of contraception are covered; including those designed to be abortive.

References:

New Research Shows that Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Provide the Contraceptive of Choice to Over 95% of Women it Ensures: http://reproductiveresearchaudit.com/new-research-shows-that-hobby-lobby-and-conestoga-provide-the-contraceptive-of-choice-to-over-95-of-women-it-ensures-only-330-women-likely-not-covered-for-abortion-causing-drugsdevices/

Hobby Lobby Ruling: Employers Don't Have to Cover Birth Control:  http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/hobby-lobby-ruling-employers-dont-have-cover-birth-control-n144321

Obamacare And The End Of Employer-Based Health Insurance:  http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterubel/2013/11/14/obamacare-and-the-end-of-employer-based-health-insurance/

Obamacare Architect Emanuel: Most Employers Will Drop Health Coverage: http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Emanuel-employers-drop-health/2014/03/21/id/560906/

ObamaCare's Free Contraception Mandate

What if I told you that you could buy any new car, from any lot,  and I'll pay for it.  Do you think you'd pick the cheapest thing you could find?  Of course not.  Well, the same is true with ObamaCare's free contraception mandate.

Currently, women using contraceptives pay between $40 a year for the generic "pill" to as much as $1000 for other more convenient and newer forms of contraception.  The decision as to what form of contraception a woman uses is typically based on a doctor's recommendation, medicinal tolerance, efficacy, convenience, and, most importantly, affordability. 

The problem with ObamaCare is that, like the new car example, it puts no limits on costs.  As a result, women will gravitate to many of the more expensive products that had once been out of their financial reach.  The result will be ever rising costs for contraception; and, the insurers will be forced, by mandate, to cover it.  But, ultimately, those higher costs will be passed on to you and I in the form of higher insurance premiums.

There is also a more sinister possibility behind any increased expense associated with free contraception. The manufacturers of contraceptives, knowing full well that the insurers can't balk on  any increases, are now free to raise prices without impunity.
So, by the time the bureaucrats in Washington realize what a mess they've made with contraceptive costs spiraling out of control, it will be too late.  Many of the cheaper or generic birth control manufacturers will have stopped producing their products for lack of sales. Then, too, the politicians, especially those on the left, won't want to rein in prices and cut back on higher priced contraception because it might cost them votes.

The decision to go with free birth control was solely based on garnering the woman's vote with no regard as to what would happen down the road, and, if the Republicans balked, the Democrats would just use that as proof that the GOP are conducting a war on women.  But, the true war on women will be exposed when single mothers or women in traditional family settings have to pay more and more for the health care needed to protect their families.

Why Obama's Compromise On Insured Contraception Is Still Wrong

After creating a firestorm over his contraception mandate, Obama announced a so-called "compromise" that he said would allow religious institutions to sidestep the moral objection of providing birth control and still provide fully-covered contraception to its employees. That compromise was to place the burden for providing birth control onto the insurance companies. But, in all too many cases, the Catholic Church is the insurer. That's because, in 28 states, the Catholic Church had already been forced to become a self-insured employer to avoid state-mandated contraception insurance coverage. Now, the Church is being sandwiched in by both the State and Federal Governments and this is why the contraception mandate is still a violation of freedom of religion as specified in the Constitution.