A Conflict of “Rights”

Last week, the Trump Administration allowing employers to quit offering no-cost birth control as a part of employee insurance policies. According to the Houston Chronicle, reaction was swift and divided:

“President Trump is demonstrating his commitment to undoing the anti-faith policies of the previous administration and restoring true religious freedom,” said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.

“The Trump administration is forcing women to pay for their boss’ religious beliefs,” said ACLU senior staff attorney Brigitte Amiri. “We’re filing this lawsuit because the federal government cannot authorize discrimination against women in the name of religion or otherwise.”

These are the types of disagreements and conflicts that arise when individual rights, including property rights, are ignored.

This dispute is being cast as a conflict between religious rights and women’s rights. In truth, there are no such things as religious rights or women’s rights. There are only individual rights, and they apply to all individuals–the religious and atheists, women and men.

An employer has a moral right to offer whatever benefits to his employees that he chooses. It’s his money, and he has a right to use it as he chooses. And employees have a moral right to accept the benefits that he offers or find other employment.

If an employer does not offer no-cost birth control, he is not forcing women to pay for his religious beliefs. His employees remain free to act on their own judgment. If they don’t like his policies, they can find an employer with policies more to their liking. This is true whether the policies pertain to a dress code, wages, hours of work, or birth control.

Rights pertain to freedom of action–the freedom to act as one deems best to achieve the values that one desires. If employers are forced to offer no-cost birth control (or any benefit), then their actual rights are violated.