Court rules firms can’t ignore law; 2 in Mich. must offer contraception coverage

[alp227]

Source: Toledo Blade

The Obama Administration won a victory Tuesday as a Cincinnati-based federal appeals court rejected religious objections raised by two Michigan corporations to a mandate that they fully cover contraception for female employees.

Autocam Corp. and Autocam Medical, for-profit firms that manufacture goods for the automotive and medical industries, challenged the federal Affordable Care Act rule.

A Roman Catholic family by the name of Kennedy, which holds a controlling interest in the companies, argued that the requirement would force them to choose between the teachings of their church and significant financial harm.

The companies are self-insured and contend they could face tax penalties of as much as $19 million a year for noncompliance. They have 661 employees in the United States.

Read more: http://www.toledoblade.com/Medical/2013/09/18/Court-rules-firms-can-t-ignore-law.html

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The law is the law; consider that the cost of doing business in the USA. Just like the company, which is NOT a religious organization, can't discriminate against non Christian employees in ANY other fashion.

RH Reality Check demonstrates the hypocrisy of how the University of Notre Dame picks and chooses which laws to follow based on convenience for "religious freedom":

In court papers, Notre Dame detailed how it segregated and tracked the use of the taxpayer funds to ensure they were not used for religious purposes. Among those expenses Notre Dame categorized as “secular” were “director’s and associate director’s salaries and benefits.” Those benefits presumably include medical benefits. Compare that to Notre Dame’s lawsuit challenging the contraceptive coverage mandate, in which Notre Dame claims offering particular health plans is an exercise of its religious belief.

This Autocam company isn't a religious organization at all, regardless of the religious choices of its management.

Other coverage of this case: RH Reality Check and The Star-Ledger. I heard this story last night on NPR, but Google News returns a whole lotta right wing religious sources like "Life News" or "Associated Baptist Press" (really, that exists?) or World Magazine.

[VanillaRhapsody]

1. Hooray!

[Drale]

2. I have a compromise for these zealots

You dont have to cover birth control but if you dont you have to cover any child cimpletely untill the age of 26 or when they get a job that offers comperable insurence. Yeah covering birth control sounds much better now doesnt it?