Little Sisters of the Poor Fight in Court to Block Obamacare Abortion Mandate

Becket attorneys were in federal appellate court today asking the court to block a nationwide ruling that rejected the Little Sisters of the Poor’s protection from the federal government’s contraceptive mandate.

The Little Sisters have spent more than a decade defeating government efforts to force them to provide contraceptives in their healthcare plan or face tens of millions of dollars in fines. That winning streak features three Supreme Court victories, including a 2020 ruling in Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania, which upheld the federal conscience rule that protects the Sisters from the mandate. But Pennsylvania and New Jersey are still fighting to strip the Little Sisters of that hard-won protection. Last year, a federal district court sided with the states, teeing up the Little Sisters’ latest chance to beat the government in court.

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“This is our God-given mission,” said Mother Loraine Marie Maguire of the Little Sisters of the Poor. “For nearly 200 years we have welcomed the elderly poor and dying into our homes, and with the population of seniors rapidly growing we cannot allow a government lawsuit to stop us from carrying out our mission. Pennsylvania and New Jersey can keep fighting if they want. All we want is to keep serving.”

Fifteen 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 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.

“For fifteen years, government officials have stepped into the ring with the Little Sisters and gotten pummeled every time,” said Mark Rienzi, president of Becket and lead attorney for the Little Sisters. “You’d think Pennsylvania and New Jersey would know better by now—but some bureaucrats are just gluttons for punishment. We’re confident the court will deliver yet another victory protecting the Little Sisters’ ministry to the most vulnerable.”

In response to the Supreme Court’s 2016 decision protecting the Little Sisters, the federal government issued a rule in 2017 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. But Pennsylvania and New Jersey have refused to drop their efforts to take away the Little Sisters’ protection in the lower courts. That case is now at the federal Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

Ministries like the Little Sisters receive broad support from a majority of Americans. Recent data from Becket’s Religious Freedom Index shows that nearly 80% of Americans support the freedom for people to run their business or religious organization according to their religious beliefs.