In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that some companies with religious objections can avoid a requirement in the Affordable Care Act to cover contraceptives.
According to the ACA, contraception is one of many preventive services that must be provided at no charge. Some companies, like Hobby Lobby, a craft store owned by a family of evangelical Christians, cover most methods of contraceptives but object to being forced to cover methods that are used on an already fertilized egg. Hobby Lobby and furniture maker Conestoga Wood were both parties to the suit.
Justice Samuel Alito said in his majority opinion that requiring companies to pay for contraception methods with which they fundamentally disagree is a violation of the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
