Obama Admin. Targets Nuns over HHS Mandate
Another group of nuns is heading to court to fight for their religious liberty in a battle over the birth control coverage mandate in Obamacare.
The nuns run the Eternal Word Television Network, EWTN. Their case goes before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday.
They object to the Health and Human Services contraception mandate in Obamacare, which would force them to provide health insurance for drugs that may cause abortions.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is representing the nuns in the case.
Becket Senior Counsel Daniel Blomberg recently pointed out to CBN News the Supreme Court has already ruled against the Obama administration on the mandate.
Click play below to watch the entire interview with Daniel Blomberg.
"They lost three times at the U.S. Supreme Court regarding this issue of the abortifacient mandate where they were trying to force ministries and family-run, faith-based businesses to provide abortion and contraceptive drugs in their health insurance policies," Blomberg said.
One of those cases involved a temporary injunction in favor of another group of nuns.
"They lost in the Little Sisters of the Poor case at the beginning of the year. Last year, they lost in the Hobby Lobby case, and they lost again in the Wheaton College case," he continued.
The Little Sisters of the Poor, like EWTN, are still seeking a final verdict.
If they don't win their case, both groups of nuns face millions of dollars in IRS fines.
"Now the government demands we choose between our care for the elderly poor and our faith. We cannot do that and we should not have to. It is a choice that violates our nation's historic commitment to ensure that people from diverse faiths can freely follow God's calling in their lives," Sr. Loraine Marie Maguire, Mother Provincial of the Little Sisters of the Poor, said.
"The government forces us to either violate our conscience or take millions of dollars that we raise by begging for the care of the elderly poor and instead pay fines to the IRS," she continued.
Mark Rienzi, another senior counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, said the government has launched an "aggressive pursuit" against the nuns at the Little Sisters of the Poor.
"Untold millions of people have managed to get contraceptives without the involvement of nuns. The idea that the most powerful government in the world cannot come up with a way to distribute these products without forcing the Little Sisters to participate is ridiculous," Rienzi said.
