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Hobby Lobby Win For Conservatives

Today we celebrate a huge victory for religious freedom and the pro-life movement, in this nation. This morning, the United States Supreme Court stood up for Hobby Lobby's suit against ACA's HHS mandate that employers provide abortive contraceptives to their employees.

In the majority opinion, Justice Alito describes why the Religious Freedom Restoration Act grants Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties the exemption from the mandate:
In holding that the HHS mandate is unlawful, we reject HHS's argument that the owners of the companies forfeited all RFRA protection when they decided to organize their businesses as corporations rather than sole proprietorships or general partnerships. The plain terms of RFRA make it perfectly clear that Congress did not discriminate in this way against men and women who wish to run their businesses as for-profit corporations in the manner required by their religious beliefs. 
While the Left is in an uproar over this "step backwards" in regard to "women's reproductive health" it is important to note that this decision does not allow a complete exemption - it only allowed the exemption in
the case of the abortive contraceptives that were in dispute in the case, and it specifically applies to the organizations that were parties to the suit. Other forms of contraception and other health procedures of medication are still mandated through the far reaching ACA mandates, and there are plenty of organizations that will no doubt lack the grounds to reject the HHS mandate, due to differing circumstances,  However, this remains a huge victory for religious liberty in our nation, and specifically for the pro life movement. This is even more evident when coupled with the previous decision regarding buffer zones around abortion clinics - which granted permission for pro-life activists to council women away from abortion, while they were on their way to abort their children at Planned Parenthood clinics. The massive 35 foot buffer zone that had been regulated was struck down in favor of a much smaller zone.

While these two victories are small in scope, they represent great potential for future momentum. While there are many cases of defeat and loss in our nation as we struggle to undue the downward spiral in our nation's political, economic, and religious preservation, these victories allow us time to remember that our nation still allows for the redress of grievances against severe violations government overreach. Let's be thankful for the small victories we do receive and push forward to effect more substantial change so that we can restore our nation's religious and economic freedoms once again.

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