Boycott Eden Foods (organic beans and Eden soy milk)

 As the following blogger notes, Eden Foods deprives its employees of contraceptives access in their health care plans, just like Hobby Lobby, now famous from the Supreme Court decision, permitting employers to deprive workers of health care, based on employers' religious beliefs.

From Dailykos.com, by cordgrass, June 30, 2014:

Boycott Eden Foods (organic beans and Edensoy soy milk)

Short diary but important message.  I don't do crafts so I don't shop at Hobby Lobby, but I sure do eat organic food and have bought cases of Eden Foods organic beans in my time.  I will never buy another product from them again, as they were plaintiffs along with Hobby Lobby on that asinine "corporations are parishioners too" case.

http://www.dailykos.com/...

Talk about shooting yourself in the foot!  I'm pretty sure Democratic women make up a huge part of their customer base.  They also sell organic soy milk, canned tomatoes, chili, and tons of other organic products, especially catering to vegans.

7:30 PM PT: For those looking for BPA-free organic canned goods, Muir Glen has organic BPA-free tomato products, and Westbrae has organic BPA-free canned beans for the regular sized 15-oz cans (check the label, they are labeled BPA-free on the front with a green label).  Their larger sizes of canned beans still have BPA lining.

Tue Jul 01, 2014 at  5:19 AM PT: From kossack djrez

http://www.dailykos.com/...

to read the canned response from Eden Foods when they tried these shenanigans earlier.

At DemocraticUnderground.com writers reported that Eden Food claims to be the oldest natural foods company in America. Owner Michael Potter's workforce numbers 150.

In a letter he wrote in response to a shopper complaint that month, Potter described contraceptives as “lifestyle drugs” akin to “Viagra, smoking cessation, weight-loss” tools and other medications. (He also compared birth control to “Jack Daniels” in a contemporaneous interview with Salon.)

http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2014/07/03/hobby-lobby-fallout-catholic-soy-milk-mogul-wont-cover-drugs-that-prevent-procreation/

Commenters at the DemocraticUnderground page "Eden Foods hit by backlash for fighting Obamacare’s contraception mandate" (Lisa Hymas authored story first written at Grist) uploaded at argue that an organic food company depriving women employees (or male employee's female partners) of health access and choice is curious, given the popularity of organic food with women and liberals. By yesterday morning more than 112,000 people had signed an online petition at Credoaction.com. One commenter noted that this Eden Foods policy offending their consumer base would be like Alpo adopting an anti-dog policy.

The Credo petition reads:

Eden Foods is the Hobby Lobby of the organic foods aisle.

More than 80 companies have petitioned the courts for permission to use their owner’s religious beliefs to discriminate against women. That’s not surprising given the right-wing’s all out attack on birth control and women’s reproductive health care.

But what’s really shocking is that one of those companies is a well known organic food pioneer, Eden Foods.

Tell Eden Foods: Stop supporting discrimination against women.

Michael Potter, Eden’s CEO, claims, among other things, that contraception “almost always involve[s] immoral and unnatural practices.”¹ That’s one of the reasons why he filed suit in 2013 against the mandate of the Affordable Care Act that classifies birth control as preventative healthcare for women.

After filing the suit, he went even further, saying that the government has “no right” to extend coverage for birth control, comparing birth control to Jack Daniels, and saying that pregnancy should be covered but birth control should not because pregnancy has “more warmth and fuzziness.”² When the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision was announced, Potter said he was “grateful” for the court’s decision while calling President Obama a “dictator” who wants to take away Americans’ rights.³

Tell Eden Foods' CEO: I won’t buy Eden products until you stop playing politics with women’s health
Potter would like to frame his lawsuit as simply his attempt to exercise his constitutional right to freedom of religion, but there’s no denying that it’s actually part of a larger right-wing attack on women and women’s reproductive health. Potter’s case is being handled by the right-wing Thomas More Law Center. The center is engaged in 11 lawsuits for 33 plaintiffs challenging the contraception mandate. Michele Bachmann and Allen West serve as advisors and the center’s web site boasts that the center is “a crucial element on a crucial front of the Culture War.”

If Michael Potter wants to be part of the right-wing War against Women, that’s his choice, but consumers also have a choice about whether they want to fund his attacks. While progressives may have little leverage against a company like Hobby Lobby, our power to go up against Eden is strong. Potter himself said, when news of the suit broke in the spring of 2013, that consumer outrage was “a big deal.”

It’s time to make sure that Michael Potter knows the damage he’s doing to Eden Foods by joining coordinated right-wing attacks on women and birth control.

Tell Michael Potter : Drop your attacks on birth control coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
Thanks for standing up for women.

1. “Organic Eden Food’s quiet right-wing agenda”, Irin Carmon, Salon, 4/11/2013.
2. “Eden Foods doubles down in birth control flap,” Irin Carmon, Salon, 4/15/2013.
3. “Hobby Lobby Fallout: Catholic Soy Milk Mogul Won't Cover Drugs That 'Prevent Procreation' ,” Clare O’Connor, Forbes, 7/3/2014.