Little Sisters of the Poor Take Obamacare Contraceptive Mandate Fight to the Web

The Little Sisters Supreme Court case now faces a tough climb with the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.

By Al Perrotta Published on February 17, 2016

Just weeks before they are scheduled to appear before the Supreme Court, the Little Sisters of the Poor have opened a new line of defense against the Obama Administration’s efforts to force the Catholic religious organization to provide contraceptives to their female employees: They’ve launched a new website.

Thelittlesistersofthepoor.com aims to educate the public about the group’s struggle against Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate and counter what they say is the government’s false information about the case:

After promising that the Little Sisters’ religious beliefs would be protected, the government created a new regulation requiring the Little Sisters to change their healthcare plan to offer services that violate Catholic teaching. …

The government is arguing that since it has offered to reimburse the costs of the services it wants the Little Sisters to provide, they should have no moral objection to offering them.  The Little Sisters are saying this is not about money, but conscience, and whether they should be forced to change their healthcare plan to offer services they have a moral objection to when those services could be provided more effectively through the government’s healthcare exchange.

According to The Federalist,  “The government’s brief says the Little Sisters need to just file a form stating they’re a religious non-profit that objects to providing coverage for contraceptive services on religious grounds, and all will be solved.” But:

As Matt Bowman pointed out in National Review, that’s simply not the case: “The government deliberately added more language to the Little Sisters’ form. Because their plan is ‘self-insured,’ in addition to stating their religious objection, the government requires their form to also specifically tell their insurance administrator that he has ‘obligations’ to provide the abortifacient and contraceptive coverage himself.”

“Signing it would allow HHS to commandeer the infrastructure of our health care plan in order to use it to distribute abortifacients and contraceptives to our employees,” says Sister Constance Viet, the Little Sisters’ communications director. “In other words, signing Form 700 would involve us in formal cooperation with wrongdoing, which is never permissible under Catholic doctrine.”

To help draw a clearer picture, literally, the Little Sisters new website features a cartoon strip laying out their case. Here’s a couple of panels that make plain the absurdity of the Administration’s argument … and its dangers:

Little Sisters of the Poor Cartoon - 900

However absurd the Obama Administration’s case, however grossly their heavy-handed regulation threatens religious liberty, the death of Justice Antonin Scalia makes a win at the Supreme Court much more difficult. The Little Sisters are scheduled to be arguing their case before the Supreme Court on Wednesday, March 23. With Scalia’s passing, Little Sisters of the Poor v. Burwell may well end up a 4-4 tie, judging from the vote in the similar Hobby Lobby case. This would mean the lower ruling by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals against the Little Sisters will stand.

Supreme Court aside, the Little Sisters’ website offers a simple solution to the legal conflict:

Giving all women access to contraception through the (Obamacare) healthcare exchange is a simpler and fairer way for the government to provide these services to more women while protecting the religious freedom of the Little Sisters, who never wanted this fight and just want to get back to caring for the elderly in need.

Little-Sisters-BW-700

 

 

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