The Christian-owned retailer cannot be required to include contraception in health plans (PDF), reports the BBC. The 5-4 ruling applies to "closely held" corporations.
The case turned in large part on whether the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which bars the US government from taking action that "substantially burdens the exercise of religion", applies to for-profit companies…The decision marks the first time the Supreme Court has found a profit-seeking business can hold religious views under federal law, analysts say…
But it is unclear whether any women employees will actually lose birth control coverage, because the Obama administration had already devised a mechanism under which workers of non-profit organisations that object to the contraception mandate could keep coverage without the organisation having to pay for it.
The court also said its ruling did not apply to other forms of healthcare that some find morally objectionable, such as blood transfusions or vaccinations.
Good to know they're already thinking these things through. The frequent consonance between constitutionality and barbarism can't be terribly comforting, can it?
