Fox News contributor Liz Cheney asserted on Sunday that the government's legal argument that would have forced Hobby Lobby to cover emergency contraception for its female employees was "abortion rights trump everything."
During a panel discussion on Fox News Sunday, Cheney argued that with both the Hobby Lobby case and a Thursday ruling which went even further by granting an injunction to Wheaton College, a small evangelical college, that the court was "doing something that was very straightforward."
"Both of these cases show -- particularly if you look at the dissents -- the court was saying Religious Freedom Restoration Act says the government's got to have a compelling interest if it's going to burden your free exercise of religion, and it has to choose the least restrictive means to do that."
"The dissents in both of these cases show the passion that's there, but also, frankly, a legal theory we haven't seen before," she continued. "Which is essentially a theory that says, abortion rights trump everything else. Abortion rights are more important than the free exercise of religion."
Cheney insisted that the case was not about "Republicans blocking access to contraception" because the court was just following the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which was signed by President Bill Clinton.
Fox News host Shannon Bream pointed out that "the constitutional lawyer in the White House does not approve."
Cheney, however, discounted President Barack Obama's "constitutional interpretation" because it had "left a lot to be desired in many instances."
A 2012 New York Times examination of the science behind emergency contraception found that so-called morning-after pills do not stop eggs from implanting in the womb.
"Rather, the pills delay ovulation, the release of eggs from ovaries that occurs before eggs are fertilized, and some pills also thicken cervical mucus so sperm have trouble swimming," the Times explained. "Because they block creation of fertilized eggs, they would not meet abortion opponents’ definition of abortion-inducing drugs."
