The Catholic charity Little Sisters of the Poor is fighting an effort by California and Pennsylvania to block the Trump administration’s effort to roll back Obamacare’s birth control mandate.
The charity was part of a large lawsuit brought by religious nonprofits that challenged the Obama administration over an Obamacare requirement for employers to provide birth control without requiring a copay from employees. The Trump administration rolled back that mandate last month.
However, California and Pennsylvania are suing to preserve the mandate.
In response, Little Sisters of the Poor is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit to stop the two states.
“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,” said Mark Rienzi, senior counsel at Becket, the law firm that is representing the Catholic charity.
The charity led a lawsuit of more than a dozen religious nonprofits such as charities or universities. The Obama administration had created an accommodation for such nonprofits, under which the government would shoulder the cost of providing birth control to employees.
However, the nonprofits sued the administration, arguing that they are still playing a role in providing the birth control even through the accommodation.
The lawsuit went all the way to the Supreme Court, which eventually punted the case back down to lower courts and asked for the administration and nonprofits to reach a new settlement.
That directive became moot after the Trump administration relaxed the birth control mandate last month. The new interim rule would ensure that employers that have a religious or moral objection to birth control do not have to provide it at all to employees.
California’s Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement last month when the lawsuit was filed that the administration is trampling on people’s rights.
“What group of Americans will they target next?” he said in a statement on Oct. 6. “Will they allow businesses to deny you cancer treatment? Will they exclude you from insurance coverage because of a pre-existing health condition?”
