An Abortion, I Believe
Establishment article from CNN.com: Hobby Lobby faces millions in fines for bucking Obamacare
Summary: Hobby Lobby is going to pay daily fines of $1.3 million starting January 1st for not being in compliance with the emergency contraception provisions of the Federal healthcare act. Hobby Lobby had sought a speedy resolution, but the court denied accelerated claims based on religious grounds because Hobby Lobby is not a religious group.
As others, including the excellent and well-reasoned Fred Clark of Slacktivist (to whom my entry is much indebted), have stated, the most illustrative sentence from Hobby Lobby's lawyer is: "All they're asking for is a narrow exemption from the law that says they don't have to provide drugs they believe cause abortions[.]" It's that tricky word "believe" that's the crux. They can believe it all they want, but I don't think they get to rule against science because of what they believe might be true -- especially if they're dealing with a matter that falls into science's purview.
The science says that emergency contraception pills do not cause abortion. It's right there in the name, but I'll point out that if you are 1-4 weeks pregnant (i.e. your fetus has implanted in the uterine wall) and you take the emergency contraception, you do not become not-pregnant. The fetus continues right along happily and will eventually be born -- making emergency contraception among the least-effective forms of abortion, possibly even more so than praying to the moon or eating arugula. According to Princeton's site on emergency contraception (or EC), EC doesn't even have a chance of causing birth defects.
In other words, I fully support Hobby Lobby's choice to voluntarily provide the government with $1.3 million every day for the privilege of being spectacularly, logically, and provably wrong. I hope that in one year's time, a section of some repaired highway or bridge in the area is labeled with the Hobby Lobby story, in honor of their selfless sacrifice of money.
They're saying that now. But if they study it more who's to say they wont change what they're saying it does or doesn't cause. And what about the babies born after their moms use it. Who's to say what problems they'll have in the future.
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