By Lauree Benton
“Corporations are people, my friend.”
Women? Well… the jury is still out on that. Whether you are a person or not may depend on the religious views of your boss.
Makes sense I guess. The Constitution does say that all men are created equal.
I’m sure the ALL MALE majority who made this stirring decision is just looking out for us lady types. You know, we can’t be trusted.
Never mind that NONE of these men have ever dealt with the realities of human reproduction. Losing complete control over your body once a month. Uterine lining that decides it has better places to be. Cysts. Fibroids. Organ prolapse. Unexpected, complicated, and even dangerous pregnancies. All for the honor of ripping up your nether regions to push a basketball out of a hole the size of a dime.
Never mind that NONE of these men have ever dealt with the economic realities of serving as an incubator. Being denied health insurance (it’s only been a few months since that became illegal). Losing your job because of a pregnancy. Having to choose between having a career and having a child, because childcare is so expensive. (And that’s not even taking into account that you’ll be paid less even before children enter the picture.)
Never mind that NONE of these men would even exist if it weren’t for the pseudo-people that carried them.
As Erin Ryan at Jezebel said:
“They bought Hobby Lobby’s “RELIGIOUS LIBERTY!” argument despite the fact that Hobby Lobby doesn’t personally object to covering vasectomies for men; their religion only applies slut panic to women. The Court won’t classify Hobby Lobby’s woman-only scientifically illiterate objections to contraception as “discrimination” against women. But it would be discrimination if Hobby Lobby’s religious objections applied to black people or gay people. Are you following? Me neither.”
So corporations are people. And people have religious liberty. And that religious liberty trumps health concerns or any other scientific reality, specifically when it comes to women. That, my friends, is institutionalized sexism.
Katie McDonough at Salon brings up another terrifying point:
“The opinion also raises the question of whose religious beliefs matter. Conservatives are hailing this as a victory for freedom of religion, but what about the religious employees at Hobby Lobby who don’t share the views of the Green family? The Greens’ profoundly unscientific and extreme views about contraception are not even universally accepted among Christians. Where’s their religious liberty in this? And for the women whose religious liberty is freedom from religion? Where are they in this opinion?”
“The Court puts claims of corporations over those of its employees and allows a corporation’s owners to override the Federal rights of its employees, many of whom have a different set of religious beliefs,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote in her dissent.
In short, corporate personhood just got really scary really fast. Sure, Citizens United wasn’t good. And unlimited corporate campaign spending is getting out of hand. But this new decision is going to have a serious, immediate, and direct effect on the people’s lives. Actual human people.
Steven Depolo, Flickr
Five men just turned the clock back for American women. Deciding that it is okay for our health decisions to be hijacked by our employers. That we still deserve to pay more for our healthcare than men, simply because we are women. That bosses can discriminate as long as they “sincerely” believe in it.
Who is to say this will just stop at birth control? What about AIDS medication? Or blood transfusions? Organ transplants? Hell, what if the employer doesn’t believe in medicine at all?
Five men and a corporation (that has no problems paying for penis pumps and Viagra) just re-institutionalized a 2nd class status for women.
My sincerest hope is that all of this bullshit will inspire women to get mad and get even. Vote. Volunteer. Donate. Protest. Boycott. Organize. Run for office.
Please. We cannot depend on the status quo. Our health is literally at stake.
And seriously, though. Fuck Hobby Lobby.
PS. If anyone has some ideas to help negate the effects of this ruling and generally raise hell, please comment below or email me at LaureeBenton@gmail.com. I’m ready to fight. Fight with me.
Lauree Benton is the nom de plume of an otherwise respectable human being who lives in San Diego.
Source
Latest posts by Source (see all)
- And Then They Came for the Vietnamese… - December 13, 2018
- Amazon’s Disturbing Plan to Add Face Surveillance to Your Front Door - December 13, 2018
- 140+ Arrested as Youth-Led Protests Demand Green New Deal on Capitol Hill - December 11, 2018
The really scary thing is the Supreme Court itself which is nothing more than an arm of the right wing conservative movement in this country. They don’t even pretend to be unbiased, fair or compassionate. They are totally political. So as long as the same actors stay there, we can all expect much more of these kinds of decisions whether they apply only to women or to everyone else. The only solution is to get rid of the Supreme Court as presently constituted, but that can only happen if one of them dies and a Democrat happens to be President or by a revolution.
This is the breakdown tha a FB friend posted:
“This is what Hobby Lobby’s insurance covers:
Male condoms
Female condoms
Diaphragms with spermicide
Sponges with spermicide
Cervical caps with spermicide
Spermicide alone…
Birth-control pills with estrogen and progestin (“Combined Pill)
Birth-control pills with progestin alone (“The Mini Pill)
Birth control pills (extended/continuous use)
Contraceptive patches
Contraceptive rings
Progestin injections
Implantable rods
Vasectomies
Female sterilization surgeries
Female sterilization implants
What they don’t cover because they consider it close to abortion:
Plan B (“The Morning After Pill”)
Ella (a similar type of “emergency contraception”)
Copper Intra-Uterine Device
IUD with progestin”
This is still unacceptable because the 4 things they don’t cover are still vital and it’s hypocritical for HL not to cover them but stil cover the other things listed.
The Supremes meant all forms of birth control, as Associated Press reported today: “The Supreme Court on Tuesday confirmed that its decision a day earlier extending religious rights to closely held corporations applies broadly to the contraceptive coverage requirement in the new health care law, not just the handful of methods the justices considered in their ruling.”
If the terrorism continues, there might be a chance a couple of constitutional
amendments could pass.
One would guarantee women’s rights in all health care plans issued in the U.S.,
including contraception. The other would establish that no collection of money
called a corporation can enjoy the rights guaranteed the individual. (The founders
of this country were facing just such an imperial force in the collective form we
call The British, and the rights of individuals to pursue their freedom from the
collective power of empire were written into the constitution in recognition of
the fact that democracy requires limits on the power of rulers.)
Assuming the GOP will be able to buy the majority in the U.S. Senate there’d be
no other lawful way to overthrow these wildly irrational rulings by the men now
sitting as the majority of the Supreme Court.
And even if the campaigns could not amass sufficient money to overcome the
corporate and religious enemies of our constitution, we’d know that Amerika
had become imperial.
I’m ready to stand with you Lauree. Let’s raise hell.