American women like birth control, don’t think companies have right to trample on people’s freedoms

As the Supreme Court takes up the challenges to Obamacare’s contraception coverage mandate today, here are a few more numbers to add to this infographic from Ultraviolet.

According to a new poll conducted on behalf of a few reproductive rights organizations, 68 percent of female voters firmly reject Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood’s argument, saying companies shouldn’t be allowed refuse to cover contraception in their health plans — and more than half disagree strongly. Eighty-four percent agree that the choice about using birth control should be a personal decision and a woman’s boss should not be able to interfere with it. 

The poll shows that support for no-copay birth control coverage is strong — and non-partisan. A huge 81 percent of respondents said they agree with the contraception mandate, including 92 percent of Democrats, 83 percent of independents, 63 percent of Republicans, and 79 percent of Catholics.

There also seems to be widespread agreement that religious freedom doesn’t give companies the right to infringe on other people’s rights more generally. Hardly surprising, given this is traditionally how Americans have viewed religious freedom in our pluralistic society. (As Loretta Ross pointed out in our Google Hangout yesterday, freedom from religion is an important part of religious liberty.) Roughly 80 percent said businesses also shouldn’t be able to refuse to serve or hire LGBTQ folks and pharmacies shouldn’t be able to refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control.

The thing about human rights is that they shouldn’t be dependent on public opinion (that’s kinda the point) but it’s still nice to be reminded just how far outside the mainstream these birth control-hating religious extremists really are. Birth control — and a belief that religious liberty ends where others’ rights begin — is as American as apple pie.

Follow #NotMyBossBusiness on Twitter today for live updates from the activists protesting outside of SCOTUS. And if you missed it, get the scoop on what’s at stake in this case by watching the Google Hangout we hosted yesterday.

Maya Dusenbery is an Executive Director of Feministing.