Hobby Lobby Invests In Abortion Pill Manufacturers

[PamIsMe]

Hobby Lobby Invests In Abortion Pill Manufacturers


The owners of Hobby Lobby, a Christian-owned craft supply chain, were so offended by the idea of having to include emergency contraceptives and intrauterine devices in their health insurance plans that they sued the Obama administration and took the case all the way up to the Supreme Court. But Mother Jones reported on Tuesday that the company's retirement plan has invested millions of dollars in the manufacturers of emergency contraception and drugs used to induce abortions.

Hobby Lobby's 401(k) employee retirement plan holds $73 million in mutual funds that invest in multiple pharmaceutical companies that produce emergency contraceptive pills, intrauterine devices, and abortion-inducing medications.

The companies Hobby Lobby invests in include Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, which makes the Plan B morning-after pill and ParaGard, a copper IUD, as well as Pfizer, the maker of the abortion-inducing drugs Cytotec and Prostin E2. Hobby Lobby's mutual funds also invest in two health insurance companies that cover surgical abortions, abortion drugs, and emergency contraception in their health care policies.

Hobby Lobby's attorneys argue that the provision in the Affordable Care Act that requires most employers to cover contraception in their health plans infringes on the company's right to exercise religious freedom because the company's owners believe that emergency contraception and IUDs are actually forms of abortion. Medical studies have debunked this claim.

Mother Jones reported that all nine of the mutual funds Hobby Lobby's retirement plan holds include investments that clash with the owners' religious beliefs about abortion.

[PamIsMe]

Sometimes the hypocrisy of Tea Party Conservatives just leaves me speechless. Pam

[trappnman]

I would think I'd be used to it by now- ever since Palin said No! to the money, yet took the funds, the audacity continues to grow.

[bblwi]

Politics really has no principles, it is just "NO" to what you don't want or don't like and "YES" to anything you do like or want.
Actually from a political perspective they are smart to invest in abortion technology as most likely those using that technology are far more likely to be more liberal then they are and thus less voters with those mindsets long term down the road. Take the bucks now, no matter where they come from one can always ask for forgiveness later!
Bryce

[trappincoyotes39]

really? 401K that most do not know what is involved? They pick out a group of investments and leave it that LOL. Many times the broker does not want to inform you on the entire makeup becuase if many people knew what was in their 401K they would be dropping an investment fund not to mention a very long meeting with you explaing every company under the umbrella of such fund.

I mean I could see even if these companies where strictly abortion makers but I have a feeling other meds makeup the bulk of their margin.

This is nothing more than the media playing games really.

Tevia is the largest maker of generic drugs out there no wonder a mutal fund would include them in this day and ageof rising prescript cost and stagnant wages. Sounds like a good company to make employees money on retirement. Wouldn it not be harder to find one that doesn't have a small market share of such abortion meds and see their profits compaired to phizer and tevia?

Common sense needed by mother earth and other biased media outlets.

[bblwi]

The retired educators pension fund I have has socially conscious options for those that care to invest in those. I have investments in those and they have averaged about 90-95% of which the regular funds they offer.

Bryce

[RShaw]

I am tired of the hypocrisy as well.

California state Sen. Leland Yee, (D-San Francisco) leaves the San Francisco Federal Building on Wednesday. Yee is accused of asking for campaign donations in exchange for introducing an undercover agent to an arms trafficker. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

California state Sen. Leland Yee (D) was arrested Wednesday at his home in San Francisco and accused of — among many, many other things — offering to procure some seriously illegal weapons. The irony: Yee was one of the driving forces behind some of the toughest gun-control legislation in the country during his tenure in the state Senate.
First, a bit on Yee’s record: The former San Francisco School Board president, who received a PhD in child psychology from the University of Hawaii and was the first Chinese American to serve in the California Senate, wrote legislation in 2012 that would have banned the sales of conversion kits that would allow gun owners to create firearms with detachable magazines or bigger clips.
This year, Yee introduced two more gun-control bills. One, S.B. 108, would have required the Justice Department to study local safe storage ordinances that prevent children from getting access to their parents’ weapons. Another, S.B. 47, would have expanded California’s ban on assault weapons to include semiautomatics, centerfire rifles or pistols with the ability to accept detachable magazines (Both measures are sitting in a state Assembly committee, and it’s safe to assume they’ll die along with Yee’s political career).
At the same time, federal prosecutors allege, Yee was arranging a deal between an arms dealer and an undercover federal agent for weapons including something similar to an M16 and rocket launchers.
That’s right, rocket launchers.
(Our colleague Mark Berman has more on the indictment and its highlights)
According to the indictment, Yee met with the undercover agent in San Francisco earlier this year and promised to introduce him to an arms dealer friend who could import weapons into the United States from Russia. Yee allegedly warned the agent that arms dealing wasn’t a business for “the faint of heart.”

[trappincoyotes39]

Bryce never stated socially acceptable funds are bad but then again ask 20 people what the term means and you going to get at least 15 different answers. What you find socially acceptable I may not..............

The point of an investor is to make the funds grow as much as possible or otherwise private people or business will find another company that will make them more money. Just Becuase one is more profitable doesn't make them bad, even though the left portrays many companies that make high profits as some demon

One can make good money and still live a life that is moral is done every day. But when your talking public traded companies Theynhave investors to satisfy and many make decisions that might not be acceptable to all those involved for sure. yet any company has a choice to stay as a private held or go on the public block. Up to the owner or owners and what kind of Capitol they need to further their business to a higher plateau. cause and effect to both really. Caebals is a public traded company and many who work or worked their will tell you might not be as good when they where a private company, yet the Caebals family and others made the decision to go public. their profits rose Becuase of the capital they have to hold their own credit card, gives people a lower interest rate on average offers cash back on purchases and more buying power in the market. main draw back? having investors to satisfy over. Employees at times.

[PamIsMe]

RSShaw, we could trade corrupt politician stories all day within both parties. Not the point of this article however.

It was Hobby Lobby's owners that made their "Conservative values" and "Christian principles" a BIG national deal.
In light of those so highly held values, one might think they would be careful about what their money is invested in.
If it's the devil's work to provide birth control and day after pills in insurance policies, it certainly is the devil's profit in investments.

How anyone couldn't see the irony in their values is beyond me.

Pam

[trappincoyotes39]

Pam I think you need to hear what is said not what the media reports.

Hobby Lobby representatives maintained the petitions misleadingly created the impression the company objected to the mandated provision of all forms of birth control rather than just a particular subset:
Kyle Duncan, general counsel for the Becket Fund, who is defending Hobby Lobby in the HHS lawsuit, [said] that although he does not know exactly what transpired at the company's headquarters, he has read the petition.

"The petition is misleading. It makes it seem as if Hobby Lobby is seeking to exclude birth control from its health plan all together. That's just not true. The Green family and Hobby Lobby do not have any religious objection to birth control per se. Their plans have covered preventive contraceptives and will continue to do so," Duncan said.

"What Hobby Lobby objects to and the reason they sued is because the HHS mandate forces Hobby Lobby to include a specific kind of drug," he explained.

The drugs are called Plan B and Levonelle, otherwise known as "the morning-after pill" and "the week-after pill."

"For many people, [the pills] are not even considered birth control because the way they operate is to prevent the implantation of an egg in the womb. For millions of Americans that take the traditional Christian view that life begins at conception, that amounts to an early abortion," Duncan said. "The petition totally misses that and instead says that 'Hobby Lobby is denying women birth control and therefore denying health care.' So, the premise of the petition is wrong."
As of December 2013 Hobby Lobby's case has worked its way through the federal court system, and the U.S. Supreme has agreed to hear it along with a similar case involving the pro-life Mennonite owners of the Pennsylvania-based Conestoga Wood Specialties.

[trappincoyotes39]

I see it as govt over stepping the bounds of private business. If he has taken fed aid or anything similar then I would say he has no case, but as a private citizen he should be willing to offer what he sees fit. They have employed people in jobs and give them Sundays off and pay above the minimum wage. I would rather shop there than at some store that stays open 24 hrs a day and pays minimum wage and no benefits to their employees.

The Supreme Court will tell us what is right or wrong on this issue. As many others have a stake in this many catholic orgs feel the same way. It should be a choice not a govt mandate to provide add on services. I am all for medical coverage I do not consider the morning after pull or most forms of prescription brith control as a need. For most woman it is a choice to use them not a NEED like many other meds.

[bblwi]

I was not stating they are good or bad or as good in returns, I stated what options I had available and that I was astute enough to review my options which was quite different than what your post implied about those of us that invest in retirement accounts.

Bryce

[trappincoyotes39]

Bryce not really I have never been offered socially responsible offerings in my retirement in fact my state retirement you have no choice as they use their pros to make as much money as possible and in fact the state of SD has one of the best govt retirement programs in the nation as far as how solvent they have been and are to this day. The Missouri teachers retirement pension is one of the largest in the US with billions in it. 36 billion as of now and last years return was 16.9 percent return on investment

[bblwi]

I was not referencing whether you were offered an option or not your implication was that I was too dumb on my own to know.

Bryce

[mostinterestingmanintheworld]

Bryce, I'll guarantee you that somewhere in your portfolio there is an anti of some kind. Self righteousness comes from all directions.

[trappincoyotes39]

Bryce never states anyone was "dumb". I stated most investment people do know exactly what is in a 401 k and many don't care except for the final avg return which is a true statement. Most are looking for the name of each investment fund and what kind of return does it have at the 1 years and 5 years and 10 years cycle. Not many people want to spend hours with a broker looking that and breaking down every company inside of a fund. They will see an overview and most do not take it any further.

Doesn't mean anyone is dumb at all. Human nature to get it done and move on And watch the rate of return at 6 month intervals when you get your statement in the mail am I making or loosing money and what changes need to be made to my investment portfolio. Is what most people look at in a 401K and take the advice on the people your paying to do the job of growing the nest egg. be it for you or a guy doing it for 10,000 employees.

[trappnman]

pam nailed it exactly as to the point- if you can't handle that point, then you are wise to pursue red herrings.

Kyle Duncan, general counsel for the Becket Fund, who is defending Hobby Lobby in the HHS lawsuit, [said] that although he does not know exactly what transpired

so he doesn't know....but will defend to the death his right not to know....hahaha

its nor a party thing- why when anyone hears about corruption of an individual, the answer is yes, but.....?

[bblwi]

Yes Joel I am sure there is and not just from socially conscious either. My socially conscious holdings are about 5% of my total investments and are largely large USA and European firms with slower growth and good dividends. I have moved about 45% of my investments into fixed funds and about 25% of my securities into higher dividend stocks and funds and let about 30% grow as the chance for living longer in retirement is increasing for most Americans.
Also we don't need to just pick on 401 Ks or retirement funds one can invest on their own in almost any type of fund or stock you want to. Lots of options for investors to choose from. Most stocks I own are not socially conscious type investments based on their prospectus reports as are most of my funds. Managed funds are the ones that change in ownership and portfolio mix the most as the managers are trying to keep returns high and one needs to watch those funds closely if you have concerns about firms etc. Managed funds also in general have higher costs, capital gains implications and have not in general performed better than the market has.

Bryce

[mostinterestingmanintheworld]

The only reason that the stock market is where it is is because the stockbrokers control most of the pension/ira money. Very few people know anything else.

So America will stumble along for a time until we realize that a lot of businesses are the same as the country,

That is way beyond bankrupt.

[trappincoyotes39]

Tman corrupt is just that but we aren't talking that are we? We are talking about a guy that owns a private business and wants to choose if he provides certain coverages. The zealous media playing to a bias which they ARE, then wants to portray him as a less than on the level type of guy nothing more or less.

How about he forget all,about 401K and allows his employees to take care of their own retirement then they can choose to purchase any stock they wish.

let's not forget he is doing what many complain about is he not? providing better than minimum wages in retail, allowing his People to be off on Sundays Because of his religious beliefs, which I am sure they enjoy and then offers them health care and a pension plan and the media wants to blast him? I have find that odd and sad.

So to not be a story he could take it all away correct? The govt should be happy he offers all he does to working Americans and the media should too.