Posted on 12/15/2017 3:09:09 PM PST by Morgana
Christian groups and businesses once again may be forced to pay for birth control, including forms that may cause abortions, after a federal judge ruled against the Trump administration Friday.
In October, President Donald Trumps administration provided relief from the Obamacare birth control mandate by granting wider exceptions to religious groups.
The new rules provided relief to groups like the nuns of Little Sisters of the Poor and the religious owners of Hobby Lobby, which were forced to challenge the mandate to the U.S. Supreme Court or face crippling fines.
However, several state attorneys general challenged the decision.
On Friday, a challenge by Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro succeeded when federal Judge Wendy Beetlestone blocked the Trump administration from enforcing the rule, according to the AP.
The Commonwealths concern is that absent available cost-effective contraception, women will either forego contraception entirely or choose cheaper but less effective methodsindividual choices which will result in an increase in untended pregnancies, Beetlestone wrote. That, in turn, will inflict economic harm on the Commonwealth because unintended pregnancies are more likely to impose additional costs on Pennsylvanias State-funded health programs.
Heres more from the Washington Free Beacon:
Shapiros victory came after arguments in front of Judge Wendy Bettlestone Thursday, where the A.G. contended that the rollback would harm Pennsylvanias 2.5 million women. Dr. Cynthia Chuang, of Penn State University, testified before Bettlestone that the rollback would cause serious medical harm, including unintended pregnancies, Courthouse News reports.
The government disagreed with this argument when, in October, Trump ordered the Department of Health and Human Services to allow for fairly broad-based religious and moral exemptions to the mandate.
The administration expected in October that only a few organizations as few as 200 will take advantage of the expanded exceptions. A senior administration official said then that it was expected that 99.9 percent of women will be unimpacted by this new rule.
Shapiro described the ruling as a critical victory for millions of women.
However, earlier this fall, even Shapiro admitted that the HHS mandate under pro-abortion President Barack Obama was extremely narrow. It was so narrow that even a group of nuns, the Little Sisters of the Poor, had to fight the whole way to the U.S. Supreme Court for relief.
Other states that are suing Trump include California, Massachusetts and Washington, according to the AP.
The Trump administration says the new rules are motivated by our desire to bring to a close the more than five years of litigation over the pro-abortion mandate. These include cases by the Little Sister of the Poor, Hobby Lobby and countless other religious organizations and businesses.
The new rules argue that the Affordable Care Act does not mandate coverage of birth control, which could mean hundreds of thousands of women would no longer have access to the contraceptive without a copay.
According to TownHall, the new rules provide significantly expanded religious exemptions that the Obama administration refused to offer.
The report continued:
One of the new rules, according to the Times, provides an exemption to employers or insurers that object to covering birth control based on its sincerely held religious beliefs, while another rule gives an exemption to employers with moral convictions against covering birth control.
The new rules state that since all religious objections to the contraceptive coverage mandate cannot be satisfied, it is necessary and appropriate to provide the expanded exemptions.
The Trump administration also notes that there are other means of acquiring birth control.
The government, it says, already engages in dozens of programs that subsidize contraception for the low-income women who are most at risk of unplanned pregnancies.
Pro-life advocates applauded the new rules when they were first proposed in May.
At long last, the United States government has acknowledged that people can get contraceptives without forcing nuns to provide them, Mark Rienzi, senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty told USA Today at the time. That is sensible, fair, and in keeping with the presidents promise to the Little Sisters and other religious groups serving the poor.
Well, there is a simple solution.
The Congress has the authority to change the law to something sane. Or the Congress has the power to remake the Federal Court system however they like. They can close entire courts, create new ones and they can eliminate any court system except the Supreme Court. (Hear that 9th Circus?)
That does not mean they will do it, but they have that power.
There is one other path. That of Convention of States for specific legislation.
I never said it was an easy path, but it is written into the constitution as the Law of the Land.
Okay judge, I’ll just fire all the women that work for our company and not ever hire any more. Problem solved. /sarc
In June 16, 2014, President Obama nominated Beetlestone to serve as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, to the seat vacated by Judge Michael M. Baylson, who took senior status on July 13, 2012.
On July 24, 2014, a hearing before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary was held on her nomination.
On September 18, 2014, her nomination was reported out of committee by voice vote.
On November 18, 2014, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid filed for cloture on her nomination.
On Wednesday November 19, 2014, cloture was invoked by a vote of 58-38.
On Thursday, November 20, 2014, the Senate confirmed her nomination by voice vote. She received her judicial commission on November 21, 2014.
Judge Wendy Beetlestone.
Everything you posted makes legal sense, except to a lawless judge. Contempt for the law is the primary precondition for any Obama pick so everything you noted under such an arraignment can be conveniently ignored.
That’s an excellent idea.
No more nuns I guess. No female nurses in Catholic hospitals, etc. No women Lutheran school teachers...
How can there even be standing for this suit? What plaintiffs can show personal damages? Which women who work for Hobby Lobby are screaming about this? Which nuns or nurses at Catholic hospitals? This issue doesn’t even affect the screaming liberals, because people with sincere convictions about this stuff probably don’t hire people like that.
Not irrelevant at all. There’s a big difference between a temporary injunction and a decision.
Hannity is caught up in Hannity, helpless to shut his mouth and gone mad, refusing to let more knowledgeable guests than he complete their thought. Naturally, he exhibits often that he is beligerantly wobbly as a Catholic.
Hard to watch and no wonder Madcow frequently tops him. Sean is in a testosterone high and has run off a lot of us who dread watching him, but for Carter and Sullivan, etc.
>
There is one other path. That of Convention of States for specific legislation.
>
Two (at least) more. One you specified and another the last ‘box’ left to the down-trodden People: “When in the course of Human events...”
What about the individuals responsibility to keep her damn legs closd if she doesn want to get pregnant?
Buy your own stupid birth control women. You want us out of your bedroom, stay the fuch out of our walets.
No, no...
Uniparty congress. Remember that critical fact.
Judge Wendy Beetlestone is a Barack Obama appointee and a hater of pro-life individuals. That was why she appealed to Barack Obama who has the same feelings.
Sure would like to see these judges ordering muzzies around.
As a student of history I have read all the founding fathers biographies. Something that has always stuck with me was James Madison explaining why the second amendment was included and deemed incredibly important and paramount to the new republic. I am paraphrasing as the exact quote escapes me—he said that the people must be allowed to be armed so in the event that an out of control Judiciary starts making laws and decrees that are clearly wrong, the people have the ability to overthrow the tyrannical government. I wish I could find the exact quote-—but this kind of “judgement” is exactly what he was referring to-—a tyrannical out of control judiciary. Some smart Freeper may know the quote—
Unspoken path.
The SC will uphold Trump.
>Unspoken path.
IMO, “the unspoken” leads to longer\unnecessary time in misery and sorry.
But, I hear what you’re saying. We’re off worse than under King George; I wonder what ‘tea-type’ will be the final straw again (most likely not in my/our lifetime)?
There is no contraception mandate in the law. Therefore, an injunction based on the concept of a contraceptive mandate is wrong AND not relevant to the law at issue.
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