Sandra Fluke has renewed her free birth control campaign over social media, with calls to “fix Hobby Lobby,” i.e. to overturn the religious exemption to abortifacient contraceptives that was recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year. Her tweets were followed with replies from Twitter followers suggesting she get her facts straight, and perhaps even take up a refresher course in basic math.
Fluke, who is running against Ben Allen for Senate in California’s 26th District, complained that birth control is too expensive for minimum wage workers, despite the fact that it can cost as little as $3.77 per month. She even provided her audience with a personalized birth control calendar visual to show just how pricey contraceptives could be for someone earning minimum wage:
Minimum wage in California is currently $9–which, by logical deduction, would require a minimum wage worker to complete one full hour of work in order to purchase one month’s supply of contraceptives:
Shortly after her initial tweet, one of Fluke’s followers called her out, labeling her as a “liar” for misrepresenting the situation surrounding a Supreme Court decision on the massive retail supplies store Hobby Lobby in her post:
Another tweeter then replied with a #Math hashtag suggesting Fluke examine the numbers involved in the Hobby Lobby case:
In June a Supreme Court decision found that a portion of the president’s Obamacare mandate–requiring that all employers offering insurance to their employees make “preventive care” part of their healthcare package–to be in violation of the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).
The Supreme Court held that Hobby Lobby did not have to provide insurance coverage for four forms of birth control that terminate an embryo after fertilization. Hobby Lobby’s founders believe that life begins at conception, which is the point at which the sperm joins with the egg.