Hobby Lobby's Retirement Plan Invested in Contraception Manufacturers

Hobby Lobby, the driving force behind a Supreme Court case that argues Obamacare’s contraception mandate violates their religious freedom, has paid into an employee retirement plan that invested in contraception manufacturers.

As Mother Jones reported on Tuesday, the craft store’s 401(k) employee retirement plan “held more than $73 million in mutual funds with investments in companies that produce emergency contraceptive pills, intrauterine devices, and drugs commonly used in abortions. Hobby Lobby makes large matching contributions to this company-sponsored 401(k).”

While many people essentially invest blindly, allowing mutual funds to manage their money, a company that has made a point, both in the media and in court filings, to point out the ways in which it avoids supporting emergency contraception, should know where its employee retirement plan invests. That’s especially true when company matching is involved. And when, as Mother Jones points out astutely, there’s an entire cottage industry of faith-based mutual funds that screen out stocks religious people might oppose.

Emily DeRuy is a Washington, D.C.-based associate editor, covering education, reproductive rights, and inequality. A San Francisco native, she enjoys Giants baseball and misses Philz terribly.