Women Oppose A Business Exemption On Religious Grounds To Providing A Health Plan With Birth Control

This chart was made from information in a Hart Research Associates Poll released on March 24th. The survey queried 1,004 women voters between the age of 18 and 55.

When the Affordable Care Act was passed it contained a provision that required health insurance plans to include coverage for prescription birth control with no co-pay (saving women who opted to use birth control several hundred dollars a year). But some right-wing fundamentalist businesses rebelled, and said this denied their own religious rights (since they do not believe in birth control on religious grounds). And some of them (notably Hobby Lobby) actually filed suit to allow themselves to deny that coverage -- and that case was heard by the Supreme Court this week (with a decision expected in late Summer).

Now I don't think these businesses actually think their religious rights are being violated, since none of those businesses are being required to pay for that birth control coverage. The insurance companies gladly accepted taking the cost on themselves, since paying for birth control is much cheaper for them than paying for pregnancies. These right-wing businessmen are just trying to poke holes in the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) -- a signature achievement of a president they hate.

The fact is that these businesses should not be able to dictate what their female employees can choose to do regarding birth control -- especially since they are not being made to pay for it. And I am not alone in that view. A significant majority of American women also hold that view (68%). And note that this huge majority held true in all age, education, racial, and political groups. The only group without a clear majority was Republican women -- and they were split right down the middle (50% to 50%). Here are the main reasons given by women for their stance:

71% -- The decision about using birth control should be a woman’s personal decision and her boss should not be able to interfere with it.

67% -- Women take birth control pills for a variety of medical reasons other than to prevent pregnancy. Women should not be forced to explain to their employers their medical reasons for needing prescription birth control.

61% -- Corporations should not be able to pick and choose which laws they obey.

56% -- Having affordable access to birth control is important to women, and requiring women to pay up to $500 a year out of their pockets for prescription birth control would be a hardship for many women, especially women who work in lower-wage jobs.

49% -- We should not give corporations that have nothing to do with religion the right to exempt themselves from obeying certain laws on religious grounds.

Many right-wing Republicans have climbed on board the Hobby Lobby bandwagon, trying to hurt Obamacare on religious grounds. They should probably rethink that position. They lost the women's vote by a big margin in the 2012 election -- and if they continue down this road, that could easily happen again in 2014.