“The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart attempted to discredit Christian craft store Hobby Lobby during his Comedy Central show Wednesday, but instead forgot key details and facts of the store’s court case against the government.
Stewart joined a legion of Democrats — and the liberal justices of the United States Supreme Court — in criticizing Hobby Lobby for denying its female employees access to contraception, as required by the contraception mandate of the Affordable Care Act. While Stewart acted as a champion of women’s reproductive rights, he failed to understand basic facts of Hobby Lobby’s case and ignored the company’s First Amendment rights.
In discussing Hobby Lobby’s lawsuit against Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Stewart chided the craft store’s attorney, Paul Clement, for arguing there was no compelling interest — or reason for the government to regulate a matter — for Hobby Lobby to provide contraception for its employees.
Stewart argued that for a man, there would be no compelling interest as he cannot carry a child. A woman, however, can, and should have reproductive rights.
He then went on to address Justice Anthony Kennedy’s argument in favor of Hobby Lobby, where he said businesses can “be forced in principle to pay for abortions” if they are already required to pay for insurance plans that cover contraception.
Stewart refuted Kennedy’s belief, though, saying “contraception is not the same thing as abortion. That’s a scientific fact.”
“So let me guess this straight,” Stewart said of Hobby Lobby’s beliefs about contraception. “Corporations aren’t just people. They’re ill-informed people whose factually incorrect beliefs must be upheld because they sincerely believe them anyway.”
In his defense of the contraception mandate, though, Stewart ignored the Free Exercise clause of the First Amendment, which is at the crux of the Hobby Lobby case.
The company argues that it has a right to refuse to pay for health insurance that covers abortifacients, or drugs similar to Plan B, as it is a violation of the religious beliefs — which are protected and granted by the First Amendment.
Additionally, while Stewart mocked Hobby Lobby for being “ill-informed,” he failed to mention the specific forms of birth control the store objects to. As Mike Wakefield reported for Red Alert Politics earlier this week, Hobby Lobby has no religious objection to conventional types of birth control. And, regardless of what the Supreme Court rules in June, the craft store will continue to offer health insurance covering standard birth control.
Hobby Lobby does, however, have a religious objection to abortifacients, or contraception that prevents fertilized eggs from implanting in the uterus. Such drugs, like the “morning-after pill,” do cause abortions.
Sorry, Jon Stewart, you were wrong.
The “Daily Show” host then flashes to “senior legal analyst” Jordan Klepper and asks why Hobby Lobby must “force” its religious beliefs on its employees.
“Why should Hobby Lobby get to deny its workers access to contraception?” Stewart asked.
The late-night funny man, though, ignores the benefits of the Affordable Care Act — which he so generously touts.
Hobby Lobby employees who disagree with its decision not to provide plans that cover contraception can deny employer-based coverage and enter into the law’s exchanges, picking a plan there. All of the plans offer under the Affordable Care Act do cover contraception.
Watch Stewart chide the Hobby Lobby case below.
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