U.S. Supreme Court Will Hear Cases to Decide if Your Boss Will Make Your Birth Control Decisions

U.S.
SUPREME COURT WILL HEAR CASES TO DECIDE IF YOUR BOSS WILL MAKE YOUR BIRTH
CONTROL DECISIONS

Today the
U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear two cases involving for-profit corporations’
challenges to provisions in the Affordable Care Act that require employers to
provide health insurance that covers birth control.

Eleanor
Hinton Hoytt, President and CEO of the Black Women’s Health Imperative, issued
a statement to express the organization’s strong objection to the decision:

“We are
disheartened to learn that the U.S. Supreme Court has announced today that it
will hear arguments in two cases that could decide whether your boss can make
birth control decisions for you.

Business
owners’ personal religious beliefs should not allow them to deny female
employees’ coverage for birth control, an essential preventive care benefit.
This is yet another attempt to overturn contraceptive coverage mandated under
the Affordable Care Act.

Employers
cannot be given the ability to insert themselves in personal decisions that
give a woman the right to govern her body. More importantly, a decision
in favor of these business owners could have far-reaching implications for a
woman’s right to decide on the health care she needs.

We urge
the Supreme Court to decide that corporations and business owners,
many of whom are owned by men, have NO place in women’s birth control decisions
or any other health care decisions.

We hope once
and for all that the Court will shift the focus from a never ending cycle of
attempts to control women’s reproductive health to affirming that women are
endowed with the right to personal health care decision-making.”

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The Black
Women’s Health Imperative (Imperative) is the only national organization
advancing the health and wellness of our nation’s Black women and girls.
Through advocacy and public policy, health education and leadership
development, the Imperative strives to deepen Black women’s resolve in becoming
advocates and informed decision makers to achieve health equity and wellness.