Federal court forces Catholic congregation Little Sisters of the Poor to provide contraceptives to employees
Lawyers for the organization accused the court of having “blessed” an attack on “religious liberty,” signaling that they plan to appeal. They also claimed the ruling effectively forces them to provide abortions.
File image of three Little Sisters of the Poor.
A federal court in Pennsylvania ruled Wednesday against a Trump administration regulation that allowed religious exemptions to a law requiring employers to cover “women’s preventive services,” including birth control, in their health insurance plans.
The rule passed by Congress allowed a limited group to opt out—“a narrow class of non-profit religious organizations as well as certain other organizations,” according to Justice Wendy Beetlestone. In 2017, the first Trump administration expanded this group, prompting a lawsuit from Democrats in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
New Jersey's Attorney General Matt Platkin celebrated the ruling on social media. "We are gratified that a federal court has agreed with us that the Trump Administration violated the law by exempting certain entities from the requirement to provide health insurance coverage for contraceptives," he wrote before vowing to continue "to fight back against the federal government's callous attempts to make it harder for women to access basic reproductive health care."
The Catholic congregation Sisters of the Poor, devoted to caring for impoverished older adults, was at the center of the dispute. As a nonprofit order, it could not claim the automatic exemption under the original version of the rule, before Trump’s changes. The group had to apply to the state instead, and even if it could avoid the cost of contraceptives, its health insurance was still required to cover them.
“The district court blessed an out-of-control effort by Pennsylvania and New Jersey to attack the Little Sisters and religious liberty,” protested Mark Rienzi, The district court blessed an out-of-control effort by Pennsylvania and New Jersey to attack the Little Sisters and religious liberty," protested Mark Rienzi, lead attorney for the congregation. From his law firm, Becket, he argued that some of the contraceptive methods covered could cause abortions, meaning the court would effectively force the nuns to provide these procedures through their health insurance, with the risk of paying tens of millions of dollars in penalties if they fail to comply.
Rienzi also maintained that they will appeal, and that it would be "absurd" for the congregation to have to go all the way back to the Supreme Court, which already granted them a victory in the same case in 2020.
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