[Vision2020] Hypocrisy and the Hobby Lobby

[Tom Hansen]

Concerning the Green family (pronounced "Hobby Lobby") religious convictions . . . well . . . er . . . uh . . .

Courtesy of today's (April 3, 2014) Spokesman-Review.

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Hobby Lobby 401(k) holdings include contraceptive makers
WASHINGTON – The company leading the legal challenge against birth control coverage under the new health care law offers its workers a retirement plan that includes investments in companies making contraceptive and abortion drugs.

Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. has a 401(k) plan featuring several mutual funds investing in pharmaceutical firms that produce intrauterine birth control devices, emergency contraceptive pills and drugs used in abortion procedures, according to Labor Department documents and a review of fund portfolios.

Hobby Lobby and the Green family that owns it say their religious beliefs prohibit them from offering health coverage for contraceptive drugs and devices that can work after conception. The retailer and others have sued the Obama administration, challenging the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that employers provide coverage for all approved forms of birth control, including the morning-after pill and similar drugs that may work after an egg has been fertilized.

The Supreme Court heard arguments last week and is expected to issue a ruling by June.

“This is the height of hypocrisy,” Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said in a statement. “Hobby Lobby’s CEO wants to deny the company’s 13,000 employees access to affordable birth control, while investing in pharmaceutical companies that make it.”

Hobby Lobby spokeswoman Emily Hardman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The magazine Mother Jones first reported Hobby Lobby’s retirement plan investment holdings.

Hobby Lobby’s 401(k) plan includes funds that invest in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, maker of Plan B, known as the morning-after pill, and ParaGard, an intrauterine device. Hobby Lobby objects to offering employee coverage for both forms of birth control.

Other holdings include Pfizer, maker of the drugs Cytotec and Prostin E2 used to induce abortions, and Forest Laboratories, maker of Cervidil, which is also used to induce abortions.

The pharmaceutical companies are among dozens of holdings by each mutual fund, and represent just a fraction of the overall investment.

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Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
http://www.MoscowCares.com
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"There's room at the top they are telling you still.
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill,
If you want to be like the folks on the hill."

- John Lennon
  
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