NCBC Welcomes SCOTUS Protection of the Little Sisters of the Poor

After numerous challenges to the rights of conscience of the Little Sisters of the Poor and others, the US Supreme Court ruled on July 8, 2020, on the side of religious liberty in Little Sisters of the Poor Saints Peter and Paul Home v. Pennsylvania.

NCBC has been a party to a number of amicus briefs and statements of public comment as legal challenges to the rights of faith-based employers occurred. On November 7, 2018, in response to the SCOTUS decision in Zubik v. Burwell (for which NCBC submitted an amicus brief), the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued its Final Rule protecting conscience under the “contraceptive mandate,” reversing the prior administration’s rulings.

The contraceptive mandate had required that virtually all employers who offer health insurance provide contraceptive coverage, including abortifacients, to employees, even if this violated the employer’s deeply held religious beliefs. Such coverage was termed “preventive” health care as part of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

The NCBC, grateful that in this Final Rule HHS provided religious and conscience protections, submitted public comment supportive of the Final Rule, subsequently challenged by the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The HHS Final Rule provided that persons and businesses with a religious or moral objection (in the case of a publicly traded business it must be a religious objection) are exempt from the mandate.

Today SCOTUS determined that the Final Rule is constitutional. This decision is a significant win for the civil right to religious freedom and conscience protection.