Obamacare’s Birth-Control ‘Exemption’ Still Tramples on Rights

By CONSTANCE VEIT
MARCH 18, 2016

TWENTY-EIGHT years ago, I vowed to consecrate my life to living with, loving and caring for the elderly poor. Since then, I have been blessed to live in a community of women who seek to treat every elderly person in our care with love and respect — as if we were caring for Christ himself.

Over our 175-year history, my charity, the Little Sisters of the Poor, has been focused on service, not advocacy or policy. Nevertheless, we have been forced into the spotlight over our position regarding a regulation issued under the Affordable Care Act, namely that we provide health insurance coverage for birth control. On Dec. 31, 2013, Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a temporary stay against the requirement, just hours before it was to go into effect. Next week, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in our case against the Department of Health and Human Services, Zubik v. Burwell.

We are grateful to Justice Sotomayor, and to the support we have received over the last two years. But we’ve been saddened this past year to see misinformation about our pending Supreme Court case result in pain and confusion on all sides of this issue. Read more here >>