Federalist senior writer Mary Katharine Ham joined Jennifer Granholm on CNN’s “The Lead With Jake Tapper” on Friday to talk about the Trump administration’s changes to the contraceptive mandate.
The Department of Justice announced it would enforce the contraceptive mandate in the Affordable Care Act differently—allowing companies and organizations with religious objections to not provide birth control to their employees. Ham explained the impact of the change will be minimal, as only employers that have asked for an exemption can get one.
“Did you think 2010 America was ‘The Handmaid’s Tale?'” Ham asked, referencing pro-abortion protesters who have dressed up like characters from the Hulu show based on Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel. In “The Handmaid’s Tale,” women are forced to be sex slaves and bear children for the elites. “This does not roll back the mandate entirely. It gives people with religious objections… the chance to not provide this as part of their employment contracts.”
“I don’t want to live in an America where nuns have to sue for the right to not pay for birth control because that is a moral concern for them,” Ham said.
“If you are conservative, don’t want you want to see fewer abortions and unplanned pregnancies?” Granholm asked. “And of course the way you do that is by making sure there’s access [to birth control.]”
“There’s many ways to provide access to birth control without a blanket government mandate,” Ham responded.
“Why should a woman’s employer be able to make the decision for her as to whether or not she has access to contraception?” Granholm said.
“There are 52 companies in the wake of the Hobby Lobby decision that have applied and said: ‘Hey this is something we are concerned about.’ So this is a pretty narrow thing,” Ham said. “Contraception isn’t in the Constitution but the right to religious practice is.”
