A three-judge panel for the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the Little Sisters of the Poor, and other plaintiffs, in the latest court proceeding regarding the HHS contraception mandate. The cases seem destined to go to the Supreme Court which will have to sort out the competing claims.
When the Obama administration first announced the mandate, I was vehemently opposed. It made no allowance for Catholic institutions, other than churches themselves, to decline to participate in the provision of contraceptives, the use of which is not consistent with Church teaching. The exemption for churches proper shows that at least someone in the administration was aware of the First Amendment’s free exercise clause. But, for us Catholics, ministries like that of the Little Sisters of the Poor, or our universities, or our other charitable efforts, are just as much as part of “the Church” as are our places of worship. It was especially galling that an administration dedicated to liberalism was more interested in taking marching orders from Emily’s List than in upholding the rich, and important, traditions of religious toleration that have characterized our nation’s political life.
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