~~July 3, 2014~~
ONLY IN AMERICA
Those of us in America are very much aware of the stir this “store” has created and the decision handed down by the Supreme Court of the United States.
Some of our readers and followers in other countries and the other side of the world have no idea what this is all about.
~~TRYING TO EXPLAIN IT~~
Hobby Lobby is a chain of retail arts and crafts stores based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA, formerly called Hobby Lobby Creative Centers. The stores are wholly owned by the corporation and not a franchise chain.
~~History~~
David Green opened the first Hobby Lobby store, in a 600-square-foot (56 m2) in northwest Oklahoma City, in 1972. Netting sales of $3,200 by the end of the year, he moved to a larger 1,000 square foot space in January 1973. A second store in Oklahoma City opened in 1975, and a store opened in Tulsa the next year. It grew to seven stores by mid 1982, and the first store outside Oklahoma opened in 1984.
By the start of 1989, the chain had slowly grown to about 15 stores. By late 1992, it had grown to 50 locations in seven states, and its growth continued to accelerate. Its 100th store opened in August 1995, and its 200th in August 1999. By March 2002, that number had grown to 281 stores in 24 states, and 310 by October 2003.
As of June 2014, the chain has 561 stores nationwide. Hobby Lobby headquarters are now located in a 3,400,000-square-foot (320,000 m2) manufacturing, distribution, and office complex.
~~Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc~~
Holding: As applied to closely held corporations, the regulations promulgated by the Department of Health and Human Services requiring employers to provide their female employees with no-cost access to contraception violate the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Judgment: Affirmed, 5-4, in an opinion by Justice Alito on June 30, 2014. Justice Ginsburg filed a dissenting opinion, in which Justice Sotomayor joined, and which Justice Breyer and Justice Kagan joined to all but Part III-C-1. Justice Breyer and Justice Kagan filed a dissenting opinion.
The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby on Monday that for-profit employers with religious objections can opt out of providing contraception coverage under Obamacare.
The ruling deals directly with only a small provision of Obamacare and will not take down the entire law but it amounts to a huge black eye for Obamacare, the administration and its backers. The justices have given Obamacare opponents their most significant political victory against the health care law, reinforcing their argument that the law and President Barack Obama are encroaching on Americans’ freedoms.
The court’s four liberal justices called it a decision of “startling breadth” and said that it allows companies to “opt out of any law (saving only tax laws) they judge incompatible with their sincerely held religious beliefs.”
The court’s majority also rejected the Obama administration’s argument that for-profit companies cannot assert religious rights under RFRA. However, only Justice Sonia Sotomayor joined the portion of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dissent that argues companies do not have such rights.
Justices Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan did not join that section of Gingsburg’s opinion and said in a one-paragraph dissent of their own that they would have left for another day the issue of the rights of for-profit companies and their owners.
(Also on POLITICO: Left on Twitter: ‘War on women’ continues)
The majority decision could open the door to other closely held corporations seeking to withhold coverage for other medical procedures at odds with firm religious beliefs. It marks the first time that the Supreme Court has allowed companies the ability to declare a religious belief — a decision that could reverberate far past the Affordable Care Act to other laws and issues.
In the short term, the ruling appears to allow the owners of Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties to opt out of the health care law’s requirement that they provide all Food and Drug Administration-approved forms of birth control in their health plans.
The court’s latest decision promises to reignite a national debate over women’s health and access to contraception ahead of this fall’s midterm elections. It is likely to force House and Senate candidates to answer for whether they supported the contraception coverage, a provision that’s more politically popular than the law itself. Advocates have promised to make it an election issue.
~~SOURCES/READ MORE/FULL CREDIT~~
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobby_Lobby
~~Published on Mar 30, 2014~~
Why can’t conservative misogynists leave our sex lives alone?
We ALL fight the FIGHT!!
We ALL are ONE!!
It Is What It Is 
Reblogged this on Voice of Lesbian Senior and commented:
As the “Voice of the Lesbian Senior” & the “Doctor’s Voice” …. I wish to share this with the younger women who may need contraception medications. It’s not only for birth control …. it’s also for the management of other medical conditions. Bet they didn’t take those into account!
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That’s truly disturbing!
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Maybe if all those who support birth control stopped shopping there it would be something
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That should be a start … but seems now that there about 70-80 other small stores that want to do the same.
And, the religious people are very happy about this!
SMH …
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Dreadful!
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After dozens of blog posts later, I am speechless.
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Now I understand better too …. This is totally big enough to be speechless. Right there w citizens united!! Jaw still on floor …
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