Catholics persecuted in the USA. See him trying to influence the decision of the court.

U.S. asks top court not to extend Catholics' contraception exemption

By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON | Fri Jan 3, 2014 2:05pm EST

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By Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government asked the Supreme Court on Friday not to allow Roman Catholic-affiliated groups a temporary exemption from a part of the Obamacare healthcare law that requires employers to provide insurance policies covering contraception.

On Tuesday night, Justice Sonia Sotomayor had granted a temporary injunction preventing the government from enforcing the so-called "contraception mandate" against the Little Sisters of the Poor and Christian Brothers Services while litigation continues.

In its filing on Friday, the government said the groups have no legal basis to file the lawsuit because the insurance plan in question is a "church plan," which the government has already acknowledged it cannot force to provide contraception coverage.

Little Sisters of the Poor is a Baltimore-based order of nuns that runs nursing homes across the country. Christian Brothers Services administers healthcare plans for Catholic organizations.

Now that the court has received the government's filing, it will decide whether to extend the injunction while the case continues in lower courts. There is no deadline for court action, and Sotomayor can make the decision herself or refer it to the whole court, in which case all nine justices will decide.

The case coincides with the expansion this year of coverage under the 2010 Obamacare law, the most sweeping U.S. social legislation in 50 years.

The religious organizations accuse the federal government of forcing them to support contraception and sterilization in violation of their religious beliefs or face steep fines.

'PERMISSION SLIP'

The 2010 Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, aims to dramatically reduce the number of Americans with no health insurance, estimated by the government at more than 45 million.

Republicans oppose the law, and hope their stance gains them seats in November's Congressional elections, especially after glitches with the website used to enroll people in coverage.

The healthcare law requires employers to provide insurance covering preventive services for women, including contraception and sterilization. There is an exception for religious institutions such as houses of worship that mainly serve and employ members of their own faith, but not schools, hospitals and charitable organizations employing people of all faiths.

As a compromise, the administration agreed to an accommodation for non-profits affiliated with religious entities that was finalized in July.

Under the accommodation, eligible non-profits must provide a "self certification", described by one lower court judge as a "permission slip" authorizing insurance companies to provide the coverage. Challengers say that step alone violates their religious rights, regardless of whether employees ultimately receive contraception coverage.

They also point to court papers in which the government has said it is still looking at ways to enforce the contraception mandate against church plan administrators.

In a separate case in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., the government said in a November filing that officials "continue to consider potential options to fully and appropriately extend the consumer protections provided by the preventive services coverage regulations to self-insured church plans."

A federal judge in Colorado, William Martinez, denied the plaintiffs' request for an injunction on December 27. The Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals followed suit on Dec 31, prompting the last minute plea to the Supreme Court.

Throughout the country, Catholic groups are asking the courts to exempt them temporarily from the mandate while litigation continues. Most courts have granted the requests. The mandate, which was due to take effect for the organizations on Wednesday, is already in place for many women who have private health insurance.

In separate cases, the Supreme Court already has agreed to hear oral arguments on whether for-profit corporations have the basis to object to the contraception mandate on religious grounds. The court is due to hear the arguments in March and decide the two consolidated cases by the end of June.

As usual , Catholics are left alone in the fight for christians rights .

Obama more powerful people tried before you .a word is enough for the wise

Awww the US is simply insisting that catholic institutions cannot impose their religious inclinations on non-catholic employees by ensuring they have equal access to health insurance that provides free contraceptives to women and THAT is your idea of "persecution"? Puhlease.

davidylan: Awww the US is simply insisting that catholic institutions cannot impose their religious inclinations on non-catholic employees by ensuring they have equal access to health insurance that provides free contraceptives to women and THAT is your idea of "persecution"? Puhlease.

yes .

I hope his useless administration is ready to provide jobs for those non catholics .

POPE II: yes .

I hope his useless administration is ready to provide jobs for those non catholics .

Oh brilliant. The catholic institutions are simply going to kick non-Catholics out of their jobs? Great. Listen, the US is not a theocracy... It is a society that by law is meant to represent both the religious and the atheist.

davidylan:

Oh brilliant. The catholic institutions are simply going to kick non-Catholics out of their jobs? Great. Listen, the US is not a theocracy... It is a society that by law is meant to represent both the religious and the atheist.

Catholic institutions belong to the holy Vatican.

BTW no one is going to kick them, we are not going to renew their contracts, that's all as for non catholics who want to remain with us , they are going to sign a document which allows us not to cover or take care of their sterilization, abortion, contraception rubbish. We aint bending our beliefs for anyone.

The ish religion will cause eh

Similar to the problem with the Gay ish...

I believe gay folks should be allowed to marry whomever they want to but it would be very wrong to force a minister whose faith does not permit gay marriages to wed them. If they feel the need to be married, they should get someone whose beliefs permits such to do the honours.

It is against the Teachings of the Church to use or promote the use of contraceptives in any way possible. In as much as non-Catholics and Catholics alike (though under the pain of sin for Catholics) have the freedom to choose to use contraceptives, it will be wrong for Obama or any government for that matter to force the Church to promote the use of contraceptives under any circumstance.

Obama's administration is more anti-christian than anti-religion

striktlymi: Similar to the problem with the Gay ish...
I believe gay folks should be allowed to marry whomever they want to but it would be very wrong to force a minister whose faith does not permit gay marriages to wed them. If they feel the need to be married, they should get someone whose beliefs permits such to do the honours.
It is against the Teachings of the Church to use or promote the use of contraceptives in any way possible. In as much as non-Catholics and Catholics alike (though under the pain of sin for Catholics) have the freedom to choose to use contraceptives, it will be wrong for Obama or any government for that matter to force the Church to promote the use of contraceptives under any circumstance.

i wonder what the obama administration is heading to with this obamacare.
Really i dont see its as a persecution to catholism but an anti-religious crusade that is mostly targeted towards christianity as a whole.

psalm68:
i wonder what the obama administration is heading to with this obamacare.
Really i dont see its as a persecution to catholism but an anti-religious crusade that is mostly targeted towards christianity as a whole.

. True, his same administration listed some protestants-evangelical Christians and Catholicism as terrorist organizations for their stances on homosexuality and abortion. Can you imagine? Does he know how many Americans will starve and live without shelter if the holy catholic church decides to stop her activities in the USA?

Well Obama should know that Christians are warriors

fr3do: Obama's administration is more anti-christian than anti-religion

some people call him the antechrist

POPE II: . True, his same administration listed some protestants-evangelical Christians and Catholicism as terrorist organizations for their stances on homosexuality and abortion. Can you imagine? Does he know how many Americans will starve and live without shelter if the holy catholic church decides to stop her activities in the USA?
Well Obama should know that Christians are warriors

the whole word is watching

fr3do: Obama's administration is more anti-christian than anti-religion

psalm68:
i wonder what the obama administration is heading to with this obamacare.
Really i dont see its as a persecution to catholism but an anti-religious crusade that is mostly targeted towards christianity as a whole.

If i didnt know better, i would think that i was reading off worldnetdaily.com. lol mostly because we end up reading from the ignorant really. Most of the insurance plans have always offered contraceptive drugs. Infact until obamacare, congress did not even know that their plans offered elective abortions! To say that obamacare is anti-christian or persecuting catholics is laughable nonsense.

davidylan:

Oh brilliant. The catholic institutions are simply going to kick non-Catholics out of their jobs? Great. Listen, the US is not a theocracy... It is a society that by law is meant to represent both the religious and the atheist.

Hello sir. Please could I pm you? I would like your advice regarding undergraduate study in the US. I have been following your posts and I know you schooled and live there. I would greatly appreciate your help.