Hobby Lobby's Retirement Plan Invests in Contraception Makers

Hobby Lobby has fought all the way to the Supreme Court over whether the government can compel a “religious corporation” to cover employees’ birth control. But it seems that as of December 2012, when the company originally filed suit, the company wasn’t so picky about its retirement plan, which invests in contraception makers.

That’s according to Mother Jones, which got hold of the company’s 401(k) plan as of 2012 and discovered:

Documents filed with the Department of Labor and dated December 2012—three months after the company’s owners filed their lawsuit—show that the Hobby Lobby 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).

Companies include Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (Plan B), Bayer (the Mirena IUD) and Forest Laboratories (Cervidil, used to induce abortions).

Now, obviously, matching contributions are a great thing. And it’s possible that since December 2012, the company has moved to a more “Bible-based” investment strategy. However, it makes it a little hard to take the company’s no-birth-control-ever-OMG-might-as-well-make-the-CEO-perform-the-abortions-himself stance seriously. If Hobby Lobby is so committed to its owners’ faith that its insurance company can’t cough up for the pill, why stop short there? This is a company that won’t even sell shot glasses, apparently. Is investing in mutual funds that invest in contraception makers really so different? Unless this is all some sort of cynical political ploy, of course.