Democrats blast Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby ruling
Clarke says health care choices for women are now limited
Members of Brooklyn congressional delegation had strong, and negative, reactions to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling Monday in the so-called Hobby Lobby case.
In a 5-4 decision, the nation’s highest court ruled that the owners of Hobby Lobby, a chain of crafts stores, are not required to provide health insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for their employees to cover certain types of contraceptives that the owners believe violate their deeply held religious principles. Hobby Lobby and another company, Conestoga Wood, filed suit against the Obama Administration.
In its decision, the court stated that the ruling and its religious exemption from the ACA applies only to closely held companies, defined as businesses in which more than 50 of the company is owned either by an individual or by a family.