‘Absurd’: Pro-life group faces new battle in 14-year war started by Obama against Christians

The Little Sisters of the Poor still are on the battlefield in America to protect the pro-life beliefs of Americans who object to government-ordered funding for the destruction of unborn children, which Barack Obama tried to force on the public some 14 years ago.

They won the protection of the U.S. Supreme Court, but that wasn’t good enough for Pennsylvania and New Jersey, which continue even today to try to force the state governments’ secular faith about abortion, abortifacient and contraceptives on parts of the population that are Christian.

It was Wendy Beetlestone, a federal judge who was unable to issue her opinion without spelling or typographical errors embedded, who issued a ruling that sided with the two states in their “years-long effort to force the Little Sisters of the Poor – an order of Catholic nuns who care for the elderly poor – to either provide abortion and contraceptives in their healthcare plan or pay tens of millions of dollars in fines.”

“The district court blessed an out-of-control effort by Pennsylvania and New Jersey to attack the Little Sisters and religious liberty,” explained Mark Rienzi, a lawyer for Becket who is representing the Little Sisters.

“It’s bad enough that the district court issued a nationwide ruling invalidating federal religious conscience rules. But even worse is that the district court simply ducked the glaring constitutional issues in this case, after waiting five years and not even holding a hearing. It is absurd to think the Little Sisters might need yet another trip to the Supreme Court to end what has now been more than a dozen years of litigation over the same issue. We will fight as far as we need to fight to protect the Little Sisters’ right to care for the elderly in peace.”

BREAKING: In a nationwide ruling against a Trump Administration religious conscience rule, a federal district Court today ruled against the Little Sisters of the Poor. The Court sided with Pennsylvania and New Jersey in their years-long effort to force the Little Sisters of the…

— BECKET (@becketfund) August 13, 2025

The judge claimed that the federal agencies establishing the rules for mandated payments, or fines, earlier claimed that contraception was safe and effective, then changed their position to include that its safety and effectiveness is suspect.

That ruling ignored the basic constitutional protections for freedom of religion.

Worse yet, she made it a “nationwide ruling.”

The fight has been going on for 14 years, since Obama launched his own barrage against people of faith in America, by including in Obamacare a demand that employers, including Christians who oppose contraception and abortion, must pay for it.

The U.S. Supreme Court in 2020 affirmed a federal rule protecting the Little Sisters and other religious groups from the “contraceptive mandate,” as the ideology soon was dubbed.

“But Pennsylvania and New Jersey have continued to fight in court to strip the Little Sisters of that protection. Today’s ruling keeps that effort alive, and the Little Sisters have vowed to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit,” Becket reported.

The origination of the war was with the federal Department of Health and Human Services when it was setting rules for Obamacare.

The “mandate” demands employers provide contraceptives like the week-after pill in their health insurance plans, including some that can cause abortion.

“The original mandate exempted plans covering tens of millions of people for administrative convenience and ‘grandfathering,’ but did not provide a religious exemption for groups like the Little Sisters of the Poor, an order of Catholic nuns who have served the elderly poor for nearly 200 years,” Becket reported.

The Supreme Court ruling then provided that protection for the Little Sisters, and others, and the two states have been on a campaign ever since to take away their rights.

In fact, their cause has been before the Supreme Court multiple times already, and they have won in each case.

“As Little Sisters of the Poor, we dedicate our lives to caring for the elderly poor until God calls them home,” said a representative for the group, Mother Loraine Marie Maguire.

“We will continue to fight for the right to carry out our mission without violating our faith, and we pray Pennsylvania and New Jersey will end this needless harassment.”

Beetlestone admitted in the ruling her own earlier decisions in the case, while affirmed then by the 3rd Circuit, were reversed by the Supreme Court.

She claimed the procedures were not followed properly in allowing additional groups to be exempted from the “mandate,” but admitted, the Supreme Court “held that defendants had done all that was required of them.”

She claimed to walk back the case back so that she could further deliver her own agenda.

“This court did not address … whether the agencies exercised their statutory authority properly in accordance with the APA’s requirement the agency action not be ‘arbitrary [or] capricious.’”

That dispute, she claimed, is the one for which she now is providing “resolution.”

In its original ruling, the Supreme Court found that the “mandate” violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

But Beetlestone was especially upset that President Donald Trump, during his first term, addressed a resolution to the dispute by issuing an order regarding “Free Speech and Religious Liberty” and told agencies to consider amending regulations to address “conscience-based objections” to the contraceptive demands.

Those rules were adopted, and Pennsylvania sued to stop them, later being joined by New Jersey.

Beetlestone claimed the rules adopted are “invalid,” even though the Supreme Court said the “Final Rules were not procedurally invalid.”