I have added my name to a friend of the court brief in the case of Little Sisters of the Poor vs. Burwell. Professor Nathanial Oman of the law school at William and Mary proposed and took the lead in writing this brief, which was joined by a number of concerned law professors. It was written to encourage the Supreme Court to hear an appeal from a Catholic charity (Little Sisters of the Poor) along with several other faith-based organizations being ordered by the Obama Administration to allow the government to use its health care plan to subsidize contraceptives and abortifacients (drugs that induce abortions in early pregnancy).

As its name suggests, the Little Sisters of the Poor is a Catholic order of nuns that cares for the poor (especially the elderly). The sisters are ruled by their Catholic faith, which among other things demands respect for all human life. As anyone at all familiar with contemporary debates knows, this precludes both contraception and any form of abortion, including that induced through chemical means very early in pregnancy. The Obama Administration, of course, is aggressively supportive of making abortion widely available, and also of subsidizing both contraceptives and abortifacient drugs. Perhaps its greatest success in this realm has been including coverage for these drugs under its nationalized health insurance program. Little Sisters of the Poor objects to having its healthcare plan used to subsidize drugs used for purposes (contraception and abortion) it finds morally objectionable.

Read the article “Conscience & Property Rights: Obama vs. Little Sisters of the Poor” on theimaginativeconservative.org.