COLUMBUS, Ohio – In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in retail chain Hobby Lobby’s challenge to the federal healthcare reform law, a trio of Ohio lawmakers are introducing a measure they say will prevent employers from excluding birth control from health insurance coverage.
The measure, dubbed the “Not My Boss’ Business Act,” would prohibit employers in Ohio from discriminating against women based on their reproductive healthcare decisions, and would require employers’ health insurance to cover contraception, according to co-sponsor Rep. Kathleen Clyde (D-Kent) who says she will introduce a bill in the Ohio House.
In the Hobby Lobby, case the Supreme Court justices ruled that some companies can deny insurance coverage of birth control for workers based on the religious beliefs of the corporation’s owners.
The legislation, backed in the Senate by Charleta Tavares (D-Columbus) and Nina Turner (D-Cleveland), is similar to legislation Clyde says has been adopted in more than two dozen states which was fast-tracked in the U.S. Senate this month but did not gain enough votes to move forward.
Hobby Lobby sued the federal Department of Health and Human Services over a mandate in the Affordable Care Act that requires businesses to pay for their employees’ birth control as part of health insurance coverage. The arts and crafts retailer’s stand was that its owners consider some forms of contraception as abortion, and argued the law violated those religious beliefs.