Meet 18 Bosses Who Want to Deny Female Workers Birth Control Benefits

Impact

If like me, you moon-walked out of your pharmacy the first time you enjoyed zero co-pay for your birth control, you probably think the Affordable Care Act is the best thing to happen to women since boxed wine and night cheese.  

After all, "requiring that all insurance policies cover all forms of basic preventive care without a co-pay" is pretty darn uncontroversial. Everyone loves preventive health right? Wrong.

When birth control was recently included (along with breastfeeding support, domestic violence screening and well-woman visits) as free from cost sharing, a handful of (predominantly male) bosses launched a lawsuit against the government to bypass the provision. The ACLU reports that 23 lawsuits have been brought by for-profit businesses run by employers with religious objections to providing birth control. (The chart below excludes Armstrong v. Sebelius: Cherry Creek Mortgage; Briscoe v. Sebelius: Continuum Health Partnerships, Continuum Health Managment, Mountain State Health Properties; Geneva College v. Sebelius: Seneca Hardwood Lumber Company; Hall v. Sebelius: American Mfg Company; and Lindsay v. Sebelius: Rappaport & Postel, LLC.)

According to RH Reality Check, the 18 for-profit organization heads on their wall of shame claim that the Affordable Care Act "forces them to cover "abortifacients with most pointing to emergency contraception methods such as Plan B to make their case."

This objection would make (some) sense if it were true. Alas, it isn't. Although these bosses share the belief that pregnancy occurs at the moment the egg is fertilized (which differs from the actual medical definition) emergency contraception interrupts ovulation (and therefore fertilization) so it doesn't even work on a fertilized egg. In other words, they are using false claims to avoid giving their female employees the benefits they have earned and paid for.

After 11 elected officials openly supported these bosses, Planned Parenthood launched a campaign stating:

“While these politicians are siding with the bosses, we’re siding with the vast majority of Americans (70%!) who believe that insurance companies should cover birth control as basic preventive health care. When women have the power to plan their families and to make their own medical decisions, we ALL benefit.”

Planned Parenthood and Reality Check offer a list of the bosses and their organizations. PolicyMic has gathered the twitter handles of the four largest companies. Tweet your dissatisfaction with the way these companies discriminate against their female employees and use the hashtag #BirthControlBoss to join the conversation on Twitter.

Tyndale House

@TyndaleHouse 

Conestoga Wood Specialties Corporation

@ConestogaWood 

Hobby Lobby

@hobbylobbystore 

Grote Industries

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