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Little Sisters of the Poor Go Back to Court as State AGs Sue to Force Contraceptive Mandate
Townhall.com ^ | November 21, 2017 | Lauretta Brown

Posted on 11/21/2017 7:31:21 PM PST by Kaslin

The Little Sisters of the Poor, represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, asked the 19th Circuit Court of Appeals Monday to prevent California and Pennsylvania in their attempt to roll back President Trump’s October 6th broadening of religious exemptions for groups, like the Little Sisters, with religious and moral objections to covering contraception.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra sued the Trump administration immediately following the new religious exemptions to the Obamacare contraceptive mandate. The lawsuit claimed the rule change was unconstitutional because it targets and harms women by denying their Fifth Amendment rights to equal protection under the law and that it allows employers to use their religious beliefs to discriminate against employees.

Pennsylvania sued the Trump administration over the change shortly after.

“Millions of women could be denied needed contraceptive care against the advice of science, public health and medical professionals,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said at a press conference he held at a Planned Parenthood Southeastern Pennsylvania clinic in Philadelphia to announce the lawsuit.

“Sadly Josh Shapiro and Xavier Becerra think attacking nuns is a way to score political points,” Becket Law’s Senior Counsel Mark Rienzi commented on the lawsuits. “These men may think their campaign donors want them to sue nuns, but our guess is most taxpayers disagree. No one needs nuns in order to get contraceptives, and no one needs these guys reigniting the last administration’s divisive and unnecessary culture war.”

"These States are specifically targeting religious groups. Pennsylvania has never required anyone to provide contraceptives,” Rienzi told reporters on a press call Tuesday. “Now Pennsylvania is claiming religious groups have to provide these services."

"Legally there is no good argument for what these states are doing," he added.

“We just want to be able to continue our religious mission of caring for the elderly poor as we have over 175 years,” Mother Loraine Marie Maguire with the Little Sisters of the Poor commented Tuesday. “We pray that these state governments will leave us alone and let us do our work in peace.”

The nuns, who care for the elderly poor in the U.S., finally began to see some relief along with other nonprofit religious organizations that had been involved in a five-year long lawsuit against the Obama administration over the contraceptive mandate.

Paying for or supporting the use of contraception is contrary to fundamental Catholic moral teaching. The Obama administration offered the groups an accommodation that would delegate the contraception coverage to a third party, but they objected that the process still left them complicit in the coverage.

Their case was remanded to appeals courts with direction from the Supreme Court that the Obama administration and the organizations work out a compromise. Rienzi told reporters on the press call that that original lawsuit is still ongoing with the next update expected in mid-December. He added that the Supreme Court’s injunction in that case still applies which making it less likely that the states’ new lawsuits will succeed.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: California
KEYWORDS: abortion; contraception; lsotp; mandate; pennsylvania; prolife
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1 posted on 11/21/2017 7:31:22 PM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

Of the court forces the issue, I’m sure they’ll apply it to MUSLIM groups as well..right?


2 posted on 11/21/2017 7:34:33 PM PST by Darksheare (Those who support liberal "Republicans" summarily support every action by same.)
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To: Darksheare

The blatant abuse of state power by these state governments is breathtaking.


3 posted on 11/21/2017 7:40:27 PM PST by marktwain (President Trump and his supporters are the Resistance. His opponents are the Reactionaries.)
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To: Darksheare
uh huh

NOT

4 posted on 11/21/2017 7:41:41 PM PST by Kaslin (Quid est Veritas?: What Is Truth?)
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To: Kaslin

Xavier Becerra

Claims the rule change was unconstitutional because it targets and harms women by denying their Fifth Amendment rights to equal protection under the law and that it allows employers to use their religious beliefs to discriminate against employees.

Nope, simply exempts them, not all employers, from the law. But the law is unconstitutional anyway because it nullifies the 1st Amendment:

The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution prevents Congress from making any law respecting an establishment of religion, prohibiting the free exercise of religion....

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro
Josh Shapiro

5 posted on 11/21/2017 7:43:51 PM PST by Robert DeLong
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To: Kaslin

Don’t these ingrates know Who is in charge of everything? The Lord God Almighty. God will not be mocked. He will ultimately judge those who are in favor of murdering His Creation. . .it won’t be pretty.


6 posted on 11/21/2017 7:55:28 PM PST by Maudeen (There is no such thing as a casual Christian.)
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To: Darksheare
/ It doesn't usually work that was....and I have NO idea as to why not!!!!!!
7 posted on 11/21/2017 7:59:12 PM PST by terycarl (Logic prevails overall)
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To: Robert DeLong

Becerra and Shapiro - two fake Americans. Send them back.


8 posted on 11/21/2017 8:12:52 PM PST by bkopto
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To: bkopto

No argument from me. 8>)


9 posted on 11/21/2017 8:14:39 PM PST by Robert DeLong
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To: Kaslin

Shapiro and Becerra should die of shame. If I were a family member, I wouldn’t speak to them or set foot in any house where they were.


10 posted on 11/21/2017 8:20:31 PM PST by American Quilter (When does the wall start going up?)
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To: Kaslin

Just some rough back of the envelope estimates... If you totalled all the money spent on lawyers by all the states and entities suing for companies to pay for contraceptives, and all the money spent defending them, I’m pretty sure that you’d be able to give any woman any amount of contraceptives they desire for the rest of time...

This has one point and one point only: Christians are forbidden to exercise their religious beliefs. Anyone else, they’d fight tooth and nail to protect, but Christianity must be dismantled in the view of liberals.

Whatever, there goes another ten million suppressing the beliefs of over 230 million Americans.


11 posted on 11/21/2017 8:22:32 PM PST by kingu (Everything starts with slashing the size and scope of the federal government.)
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To: Kaslin

The deformation of Words-—to make them meaningless or mean the opposite of what is intended is Marxism-—Orwellian doublespeak.

“Rights”??? We only have NATURAL RIGHTS which are guaranteed to us and they ONLY come from God—not the State. There are no “Rights” to toxic drugs that deform the natural processes of the body and kill human beings. There is no “right” to sodomize others, or to kill babies because in a true “Justice” (virtue) System, Just Law can ONLY promote “public virtue” and Natural Rights and Natural Duties. We have the Natural Duty to nurture and raise any offspring we create-—simple as that. It is the basis of the philosophy of our Constitution—the Supreme Law of the Land. The Oligarchs (judges) have to support the Supreme Law ONLY.

The nuns are correct—and are having Satanism forced on them by this unjust “law”. As Justice Marshall stated, unjust law is “null and void”. We have a DUTY to disobey ALL unjust law-—esp. when it promotes killing innocent human beings or blocking natural processes with known toxins.


12 posted on 11/21/2017 8:23:38 PM PST by savagesusie (When Law ceases to be Just, it ceases to be Law. (Thomas A./Founders/John Marshall)/Nuremberg)
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To: Kaslin

The Little Sisters of the Poor should immediately announce the closure of all their missions in California and Pennsylvania. Christ was clear about instructing his disciples to shake the dust from their sandals and vacate any city that rejected the Gospel.


13 posted on 11/21/2017 8:35:45 PM PST by Alberta's Child ("Tell them to stand!" -- President Trump, 9/23/2017)
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To: Darksheare
Of the court forces the issue, I’m sure they’ll apply it to MUSLIM groups as well..right?

Among Muslims, contraceptives are a non-issue.

Regards,

14 posted on 11/21/2017 9:00:30 PM PST by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: marktwain

[The blatant abuse of state power by these state governments is breathtaking.]

Yes, the left is using activist judges to basically nullify the legislature and executive branches of government. Its completely out of control.


15 posted on 11/21/2017 9:09:49 PM PST by headstamp 2 (My "White Privilege" is my work ethic.)
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To: Darksheare

I don’t know where to give credit to this quote but think it’s worth repeating.

“If you find yourself in court against The Little Sisters of the Poor you’re probably wrong.”


16 posted on 11/21/2017 9:40:56 PM PST by TLOne (All terrorists want is for us to bow and worship their god. Oh, and to let them rule.)
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To: alexander_busek

They are afraid to go after muslims.


17 posted on 11/21/2017 10:05:36 PM PST by onedoug
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To: onedoug
They are afraid to go after muslims.

Of course they are. Islam is the US government’s official state sponsored religion. The scum bags in government will never admit that, but I believe it’s true.

18 posted on 11/21/2017 11:03:26 PM PST by Mark17 (Genesis chapter 1 verse 1. In the beginning GOD....And the rest, as they say, is HIS-story)
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To: Kaslin

Imagine if these AGs put that much effort into enforcing immigration law.


19 posted on 11/22/2017 2:40:24 AM PST by Westbrook (Children do not divide your love, they multiply it)
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To: Kaslin
"California Attorney General Xavier Becerra"

Since this suit has already failed, then to bring another one of identical nature, CA and PA should be forced to post a bond that will cover future Little Sister's defense attorney fees. Like eleventy billion dollars worth of bond.

Also linking Becerra to Karamela in 2020 should be fun...

20 posted on 11/22/2017 4:30:20 AM PST by StAnDeliver (Prosecute the win. Run up the score.)
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