U.S. Sen. Al Franken reiterated his stance Thursday that the U.S. Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby decision that limited access to birth control must be overridden, in a women's health roundtable in St. Paul that focused largely in the fallout from this summer's Hobby Lobby ruling.
The ruling, in which the U.S. Supreme Court said that requiring corporations to pay for insurance coverage for contraception violated federal law protecting religious freedom. Franken told the panel of assorted women lawyers, citizens and advocates that it ruling must be overturned.
"This turns on its head the whole notion of freedom of religion," Franken said. "To me, it's about the freedom of a woman, in this case, to choose whether she wants to use contraception or not. Because of the (Affordable Care Act) it's a basic, effective, essential healthcare."
Franken said he is open to FDA review of making oral contraceptives more accessible to women—a position McFadden has taken. However, he added that the key issue is that it be covered by insurance, not how accessible it may be.
"The issue here isn't where you get it," he said. "It's who pays for it."
The roundtable included Winnie Williams of Woodbury, a mother of two teenage daughters, one with a benign brain tumor with symptoms treated thorough a specific kind of birth control.
"When I look at this issue, I look at it and say 'You just told me and my daughter that we might not be able to have control of excessive bleeding, depression, migraines, brain tumors," she said. "You're telling me that my employer controls whether I have that as part of my medical care. And that, to me, is just unconscionable."
McFadden, however, said Franken's criticism of Republicans on women's issues an "election year gimmick" in efforts to distract Minnesotans from current issues like Ebola and the ongoing Islamic State threat.
