Former Secretary of State and likely 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton criticized the Supreme Court's decision to allow companies to opt out of the Affordable Care Act's birth control mandate on religious grounds, calling the ruling "deeply disturbing."
Speaking Monday during a Facebook Live event at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado, Clinton was asked for her take on the 5-4 ruling in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, which said closely held corporations are not required to provide contraception coverage for their employees.
“I find it deeply disturbing that we are going in that direction,” Clinton said. “It is very troubling that a sales clerk at Hobby Lobby who needs contraception, which is pretty expensive, is not going to get that service through her employer’s health-care plan because her employer doesn’t think she should be using contraception."
Clinton warned that the ruling creates a "slippery slope" of companies claiming religious exemptions to other laws.
"Many more companies will claim religious beliefs. Some will be some sincere, others maybe not. We’re going to see this one insurable service cut out for many women,” Clinton said. "This is a really bad, slippery slope."
Many other Democrats vocally condemned the ruling, and congressional leaders immediately got to work crafting a legislative response. Perhaps the most scathing response of all came from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who penned a blistering 35-page dissent.
"The Court, I fear has ventured into a minefield," she wrote.
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