http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/03/19/judge-strikes-down-missouri-law-exempting-religious-employers-from-providing-contraception-coverage/
The Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution and the Affordable Care Act are victorious once again in federal court. U.S. District Judge Audrey Fleissig struck down a 2012 Missouri law last Thursday that gave employers the power to deny contraception coverage in health insurance plans to female employees if they had religious objections.
According to The Washington Post, Fleissig’s ruling read as follows:
Missouri’s law “is in conflict with, and pre-empted by, existing federal law” and “could force health insurers to risk fines and penalties by choosing between compliance with state or federal law.”The Missouri law was passed by the Republican-controlled state House and Senate in September 2012 in response to the contraception mandate in the Affordable Care Act that requires all employers to provide female employees contraception coverage in their health insurance plans. Churches are exempt from the law, but insurance companies must offer contraceptive coverage at no cost to employees of religious non-profit organizations, hospitals, charities, etc. Missouri Democratic Governor Jay Nixon had vetoed the Missouri legislation but the legislature overrode the veto and enacted the law anyway, directly challenging the contraception coverage mandate in the Affordable Care Act, which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld in a 5-4 ruling last summer.
it really gladdens my heart that with all th hate and discrimination by the right wing to see the courts actually administering the law in a fair and honest fashion. these kinds of rulings shows the right ina bright light and lessens their chances of tyrannical exclusionism, God is good.
i feel a kinship of sorts with Gay and other factions that the right wing has practiced their racism and bigotry against Black people know it all to well, this my friends is part of that change Pres. spoke of in 2008, it also represents the fact of "YES WE CAN".
and a woman struck the blow poetic or what?
Judge Fleissig’s ruling is a victory for women in Missouri who want to make their own reproductive health decisions. Employers have no business deciding what kind of health coverage their female employees can receive. The ruling is also a win for women in the midst of the Republican war on contraception, and is the second court ruling against the GOP war on women to be handed down this month. An Idaho Judge recently struck down an anti-abortion law banning the procedure after 20 weeks.Republicans in states across the nation, and at the federal level, have made an effort to prevent female employees from having easier and more affordable access to contraception. For example, Kansas Republicans passed a law last year allowing doctors and pharmacists to deny women contraception. On the flip side, the Democrat-led Hawaii Senate recently passed a bill requiring hospitals to offer emergency contraception to rape victims.
2014 remember who's lookin' out for you and it ain't Bill O'Reilly!
