I find this BBC story worrying in so many ways.

At root, it seems to be a basic clash of principles: a Christian-owned company in the USA has won an exemption from some of the provisions of Obama-Care, so that they don't have to pay for free contraception for their employees, due to their religious beliefs. It also seems to strike a blow for religious freedom.

A closer look at the issues tells me that the decision is against religious freedom. Groups whose beliefs are anti-contraception have won the right to impose their beliefs on another group: their employees.

My first question is, since when is running a business a valid exercise of religious beliefs? Where do we draw the line? The next thing might be the right to withhold tax money that would be spent on treatments which are in contradiction to religious beliefs. This is a slippery slope. The whole idea of the rule of law is to create a society where everyone is required to behave in a way deemed acceptable by everyone else, and these kinds of exceptions undermine that principle.

What about other belief systems and things like blood transfusion, vaccinations, genetic screening, gene therapy, cloned organs for transplants and stem-cell treatments? The news article states that the judgement does not apply to other forms of healthcare, but the chances of it not being used as a precedent for other situations are very slim. The basic liberal principle is that people should be given as much freedom as possible, as long as it doesn't impinge on the freedoms of others (for example, this principle prevents people arguing that they have a right to make human sacrifice because their religion requires them to), but the ruling described above clearly does limit the freedoms of the employees.

Also, what about the need for population control? Controlling population helps to ensure my rights: to a good and healthy life for me and my offspring. Now, it seems, religious groups have the right to undermine population controls by limiting access to contraception, thus limiting my rights and the rights of my offspring.

I do hope this judgement gets overturned, and quickly.