In a nationwide ruling against a Trump Administration religious conscience rule, a federal district court in Philadelphia today sided with Pennsylvania and New Jersey 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.
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In Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania, the Supreme Court in 2020 upheld a federal rule protecting the Little Sisters and other religious groups from the federal government’s contraceptive mandate. 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.
Fourteen years ago, the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a federal mandate as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This mandate requires employers to 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. After the Little Sisters won protection against the federal government at the Supreme Court in 2016 and in a new federal rule in 2017, Pennsylvania and New Jersey sued to take away that protection.
“The district court blessed an out-of-control effort by Pennsylvania and New Jersey to attack the Little Sisters and religious liberty,” said Mark Rienzi, president of Becket and lead attorney for 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.”
In response to the Supreme Court’s decision, the federal government in 2017 issued a rule that exempted groups like the Little Sisters from the mandate. However, more than a dozen state governments in multiple cases immediately sued over the rule, attempting to strong-arm the Little Sisters into either providing contraceptives or paying tens of millions in fines. The Little Sisters once again took their case up to the Supreme Court, and in 2020 secured another victory in Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania. Ever since, Pennsylvania and New Jersey have fought to take away the Little Sisters’ protection in the lower courts.
“As Little Sisters of the Poor, we dedicate our lives to caring for the elderly poor until God calls them home,” said Mother Loraine Marie Maguire of the Little Sisters of the Poor. “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.”
The Little Sisters will appeal the ruling in the coming weeks.
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Author: Ryan Colby
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