An organization that cares for the elderly led by devoted nuns, Little Sisters of the Poor, is facing millions of dollars in fines by Obama’s IRS for their refusal to comply with the birth control mandate hidden within Obamacare.
The organization which provides homes and cares for “as family” 13,000 poor and elderly will likely face closure in the event the court rules in Obama’s favor.
“…the respondents (government bureaucrats) are enjoined from enforcing against the applicants (Little Sisters of the Poor) the challenged provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and related regulations pending final disposition of the appeal by the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.”
— The U.S. Supreme Court
January 24, 2014
After little more than a year of legal wrangling, it is all over but the wait.
Now that the final briefs have been delivered and the oral arguments been made, will the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals issue a permanent injunction of relief to the Little Sisters of the Poor from complying with the employer birth control mandate under ObamaCare…
…Or allow the Internal Revenue Service to impose millions of dollars in fines and penalties on the religious order leaving it bankrupt and unable to care for the more than 13,000 poor and elderly people whom deserve a dignified and natural end to life?
These the stakes in this headstrong attack by the federal government on the religious convictions of those individuals and employers who believe birth control is wrong and that abortion is murder.
One might imagine that the First Amendment is clear on the issue of religious freedom but not for the Obama Administration.
Since the employer mandate went into effect a year ago, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued dozens of exemptions to churches and church-like entities while refusing to recognize the Little Sisters as a “religious-employer”.
The question is why.
According to The Beckett Fund, which is representing the Little Sisters in the legal case,
“Because the government refuses to classify them as a “religious employer,” the Little Sisters are required to hire a third party to provide these objectionable services to their employees, and thus are still forced to participate in the government’s scheme.”
That’s right.
The Little Sisters refused to sign a “waiver” allowing the government to provide birth control services if not at their expense at least in their name – and that was something the Little Sisters could not and would not do.
The Secularists cannot get their heads around the idea that the religious objection was not about the money. It is about an organization’s principled belief in the sanctity of life and the moral duty of the faithful to withhold support for birth control of any kind, at any time in any way.
While the Tenth Circuit is under no deadline to issue their opinion, they could do so at any time.
In the meantime, the Little Sisters will continue their work caring for the sick and elderly while government bureaucrats plan their next taxpayer-financed attack on religious liberty assuming the court does not rule their wa
