Reference no: EM131410882 , Length: word count:800

Right a persuasive essay of at least 800 words that outlines your opinion on the ethics of this controversy. Use at least 2 resources to support your positions.

Assignment

Several institutions, including the craft store Hobby Lobby and Wheaton College in suburban Chicago, have opted to decline birth control coverage to their employees or students because birth control use violates the religious principles of the governing organization.

In the case of Wheaton College, the college has decided to end all student health care coverage in order to avoid violating the regulations of the Affordable Care Act. (See article below.)

In your opinion, are these institutions behaving ethically? (There is no RIGHT answer! You will graded on the strength of your thinking and writing, not on the position you take.)

These cases strike at the very heart of "Freedom of Religion"

The whole thing started when President Obama signed into law The Affordable Care Act. Within that law, it was a requirement for employers to provide health care coverage that included contraceptives, for their employees. The exception to this rule were churches, and other non-profit organizations.

In 1993, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act was passed which states: "Government shall not substantially burden a person's exercise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability."

Well, what about the for profit organizations with religious beliefs? The question of how the Religious Freedom Restoration Act applies to for profit corporations is what was at stake.

Retrieved from:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2014/03/24/heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-hobby-lobby-case/?utm_term=.b85461b11375

First, it is important to know that not all birth control is banned under the Hobby Lobby Supreme Court case. They are against the IUDs and pills that they believe cause abortion by not permitting a fertilized egg to implant in a woman's uterus.
Jayne O'Donnell , USA TODAY, Retrieved from;

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/06/30/morning-after-iuds/11768653/

Wheaton College is a private liberal arts college not far from where I live. It is an amazing college! It took the same stand as Hobby Lobby in that it was not going to offer contraceptives that are effective after the egg has been fertilized, further stating that they would not participate in the sinful nature of abortion.

"In pursuing its mission, the College believes that, as "followers of Jesus Christ," its members must "uphold the God-given worth of human beings, from conception to death, as the unique image-bearers of God."(Harvard)
someoneis asking Wheaton College to violate its religious beliefs -

https://harvardlawreview.org/2016/01/wheaton-college-v-burwell/

https://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2015/july/wheaton-college-loses-emergency-contraception-appeal-outsou.html