To the editor:

While there are much more serious happenings in the United States deserving discussion, I had an interesting exchange with my doctor’s receptionist this week.

She disclosed to me how disappointed she was with the Supreme Court’s decision regarding Hobby Lobby — basically she said, “How dare they take away a woman’s right to contraception!”

Within another few moments, I was able to explain the decision: Hobby Lobby and other corporations, which are closely held, can retain their rights to object on a faith-based belief against abortifacients (drugs/devices that disrupt implantation of a fertilized egg).

Hobby Lobby will continue to provide/pay for insurance coverage for 16 of 20 possible methods of “birth control,” objecting only to those drugs which are used to end what they believe is the beginning of life, conception.

Are we to believe Hobby Lobby is denying female employees access to contraception, while every taxpayer-funded Planned Parenthood facility across this country happily provides this service at low to no cost? Taxpayers are contributing, without a choice, more than $500 million to Planned Parenthood every year, like it or not. Talk about choice!

The receptionist thanked me for the explanation and said she had only been listening to the news, and this was all that was reported. I wonder how many others have fallen prey to the partisan news reporting?

I pray people will begin actively educating themselves and not take the mainstream news reports as the gospel truth, for by those reports, many are, and will be, deceived.

At the very least, can we define the terms? Simply, contraception means to prevent conception or fertilization of an egg — condoms, spermicide and birth control pills, for example. Abortifacient drugs and devices abort — in other words, they end or destroy the implantation and growth of an embryo, a fertilized egg.

The bigger picture is this: Elections have consequences. Please educate yourself; seek the truth.

Karyn Cook

Suffolk