Hillary Clinton Calls SCOTUS’s Hobby Lobby Ruling ‘Deeply Disturbing’

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks during the Public Counsel’s William O. Douglas awards dinner Thursday, June 19, 2014 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
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Presumed 2016 presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton said Monday that the Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of Hobby Lobby on Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate was “deeply disturbing” — both for its implications for women’s health care and the religious rights of corporations.

“It’s the first time that our court has said that a closely held corporation has the rights of a person when it comes to religious freedom,” she said during a Q&A at the Aspen Ideas Festival. “I find it deeply disturbing that we are going in that direction.”

“It’s very troubling that a sales clerk at Hobby Lobby who needs contraception, which is pretty expensive, is not going to get that service through her employer’s health care plan because her employer doesn’t believe she should use birth control,” she continued.

Clinton was also asked about the fact that her husband Bill signed the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act, which provided the basis for the Court’s decision, while he was president. She contended that extending religious rights to private corporations was an outcome that no one expected.

“At that point, there were legitimate cases of discrimination against religions,” she said. “This is certainly a use that no one foresaw.”

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