Generally, I applaud the Trump Administration’s rollback of the Obamacare rules that infringed on religious liberty of individuals, non-profits, and closely held businesses by forcing them to act contrary to their religious faith in providing coverage for birth control and morning after pills.
But I think the administration took at least one step too far.
The new conscience exemption includes ”publicly traded companies.”
How can a publicly traded company have a moral conviction or a religious belief?
Stockholders are the owners of such concerns, not management or the board of directors. In order for “the company” to have a religious belief or moral conviction, it seems to me that every owner–e.g., all shareholders–would have to have the exact same opinion.
How would a publicly traded company even begin to prove that?
This was a mistake. Hopefully, it will not be a fatal one to the legality of the new rules.