(RNS) — The Little Sisters will lose. In the Supreme Court, that is. How do I know this? OK, let's back up.
In the biggest decision of its 2013-2014 term, the Supreme Court decided 5-4 that a for-profit corporation that objects to provisions of a federal law as impairing its religious freedom is entitled to an accommodation under the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The case at hand involved the Affordable Care Act's mandate that employee health insurance plans provide women with free contraceptive care.
Should Catholic nuns be forced to include contraceptives in their health insurance plans? The government thinks so and has spent the better part of the past two years trying to force the Little Sisters of the Poor to do just that.
For over 175 years, the Little Sisters, an international congregation of Roman Catholic religious women, has served the nation's elderly poor with love and dignity. The order operates group nursing homes dedicated to the physical, emotional, and spiritual care of the elderly poor in 18 U.S. cities, including Somerville, Massachusetts.
