The Affordable Care Act guarantees that all new health insurance plans cover FDA approved contraceptives, including the pill and IUDs, without co-pays or deductibles.  But over 40 profit-making companies have filed lawsuits against this ACA requirement saying that they have a right to deny this coverage to their employees because of the companies’ so-called religious beliefs.

Hobby Lobby, a national chain of arts and crafts supply stores, and Conestoga Wood, a wood cabinet manufacturing corporation, are pushing the Court to let bosses make employees’ decisions about access to birth control.

Birth control is basic health care for women.  A majority of Americans agree that women should have access to affordable birth control and support full coverage of birth control as a preventive service.  As many as 88% of American women who have ever had sexual intercourse have used birth control pills, injectables, the contraceptive patch, or IUDs at some point in their lives.  What’s more at least 14% of women using the pill are doing so to treat painful conditions such as endometriosis, ovarian cysts, or severe cramps, and studies have shown that the pill reduces the incidence of ovarian and endometrial cancers. 

Your boss should not get to dictate your health decisions. Bosses do not get to decide what medicines their employees take or medical procedures they should undergo. These are decisions that must be made by women, their families, and their doctors.

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments March 25 regarding whether these companies can take away this important birth control benefit from women. Send a clear message to the Supreme Court that companies should not be able to use religion as cover to discriminate against women. Leave stories and tell the Court why BC coverage matters to you! Share the petition online using the tag #MyBodyMyBC!

This letter and all signatures will be delivered to the SCOTUS via mail.