Updated 02:09 AM EDT, Tue, Mar 19, 2024

Supreme Court to Hear Hobby Lobby v. Sebelius Case on Birth Control Coverage

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Next week, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the "Hobby Lobby v. Sebelius" case in which Hobby Lobby is suing the federal government to be exempted from providing their employees with health insurance that includes contraception, as mandated by the Affordable Care Act, reports the Daily Beast.

Lawyers for Hobby Lobby, a multi-billion dollar company, will contend that the company should be granted a religious exemption from the Department of Health and Human Services' requirement for employer-provided health insurance to cover contraception. The owners of Hobby Lobby believe that providing health insurance that would give their female employees coverage of birth control pills is in opposition to their religious beliefs, and therefore, the mandate is in violation to their First Amendment rights.

In addition, Hobby Lobby and their co-plaintiff, Conestoga Wood Specialties, are also objecting to insurance plans covering "related education and counseling" for contraception, reports Think Progress. That means that the businesses are also objecting to doctors that talk about sexual health and contraception.

"Essentially, if Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood are successful, they'll win the right to refuse to extend coverage for doctor's visits that include discussion about certain forms of contraception, like IUDs or the morning after pill," Think Progress writes.

"This isn't something that generally is billed separately from a health care visit," Adam Sonfield, a senior public policy associate for the Guttmacher Institute, told Slate. "As far as we can tell, the only way to implement this objection would be to say that if your visit is going to be reimbursed by your health care plan, then your doctor can't talk to you about certain topics your employer objects to."

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