Obamacare granted an exemption to houses of worship like churches, mosques and synagogues, but not to non-profit groups such as religiously-affiliated schools, colleges, hospitals or charities.
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In light of that decision and regulations developed by the Department of Health and Human Services, the government provided religious groups who aren’t otherwise exempt from the law’s contraceptive requirement – like churches and synagogues – an accommodation: an opt-out form to indicate their objections, after which the federal government then coordinates coverage for the affected employees with a third-party insurance provider.
Russell Moore, head of the Southern Baptist Convention Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and board member of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the group defending the Little Sisters and others, said the government doesn’t need the help of religious employers to offer a full-range of contraceptive services through its own Health Insurance Marketplace.
However, the religious groups involved in the lawsuit said even writing that note makes them complicit in providing contraception, and therefore violates their religious freedom.
At issue is the form religiously affiliated nonprofits must fill out if they object to providing insurance coverage for contraception under Obamacare – the “accommodation” to the contraception mandate – and the protections provided by RFRA to the nonprofit groups’ religious interests.
The US Supreme Court appeared sharply divided Wednesday over how the government can provide free insurance coverage for contraception to women working for certain religious groups.
A 4-4 tie between liberal and conservative justices would leave lower court rulings in effect and put off resolution of an issue with important ramifications on women’s lives for another year or more.
“It seems to me that that’s a substantial burden”, Kennedy informed the solicitor general, Donald Verrilli, at one point. Other than the Hobby Lobby decision, the Supreme Court ruled against the administration in allowing states to determine whether to expand Medicaid to low-income residents.
But under the accomodation, those organizations must allow the government to ensure that their health insurers are paying for the contested coverage.
“The burden is not on your faith to obey government mandates, the burden is on the government to respect your faith”, Ryan declared, quoting the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Religious groups don’t like Obamacare covering birth control.
Justice Stephen G. Breyer pointed out that the insurance plan belongs to the insurer and not a religious nonprofit.
The challengers in Zubik v. Burwell object to a government rule that lets religious groups opt out of the ACA’s mandate that insurance plans cover contraceptives without cost sharing. However, it is still unclear where Justice Kennedy stands on the issues, according to The Hill. Justice Elena Kagan asked attorney Paul D. Clement if the challengers were really “objecting to objecting” to the contraceptive mandate, which, if upheld, could open the door to a flood of noncompliance with government programs. Jane Roberts, the wife of Chief Justice John Roberts also sat in the front rows.
Dozens of supporters of the Obama administration’s position gathered outside the courthouse for a noisy rally ahead of the oral arguments.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor said, “There is plenty of evidence … to show that when contraceptives are provided to women in a seamless way, that the number of unintended pregnancies dramatically falls, as does the number of abortions”. The government should not be permitted to coerce religious ministries like the Little Sisters of the Poor under threat of devastating fines.
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In a contentious series of cases that pits the Catholic Church and other religious believers against the Obama administration in the midst of a presidential election, the justices split along familiar lines, with liberals skeptical of the religious groups’ claims and conservatives empathetic. Courts decide the cases and set the outer boundaries.
