The Obama administration believes it is permitted under the Constitution to force religious organizations to pay for abortions, according to the newest brief filed in the long-running case brought by the nuns of the Little Sisters of the Poor.
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Wednesday in the case, which consolidates cases from the Third, Fifth, 10th, and D.C. circuits. If the vote ends up 4-4, due to the absence of the late Justice Antonin Scalia, the lower-court rulings, most of which favored the administration, will stand.
The new brief on behalf of the nuns and several other organizations challenges an Obamacare requirement that their employee health insurance plans cover abortion pills despite their religious beliefs.
“The government insists that it does so as a matter of administrative grace and ‘special solicitude’ for churches, and that nothing in RFRA requires the exemption,” the brief says.
“Thus, in the government’s view, it could eliminate the exemption for churches tomorrow. That is astonishing enough, but it fails to grapple with the reality that by granting the exemption the government has already conceded that it does not have a compelling interest in demanding compliance from religious employers who are more likely to hire people who share their religious objections,” the brief explains.
It is my understanding that Congress can address this issue with legislation, which should have been done back in 1973 or any years since, and can then make that legislation unreviewable by the court. The fact it has chosen to do so lets one know on whos side of the issue they stand, lip service to the contrary.