The health insurance plans of one of three Americans are not covered by the Obamacare's contraception mandate including those offered by big corporations like Exxon, Pepsi and Visa. However, the U.S. government is asking a group of nuns to adhere to the Obamacare contraception mandate despite their religious objections. How come?
That's the question being asked by the Little Sisters of the Poor, a group of nuns who are fighting the contraception mandate in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Citing U.S. government statistics, the Little Sisters of the Poor said almost 100 million Americans don't have plans that must comply with the mandate.
"That is over one-third of all Americans under age 65," it said.
The nuns said New York City and the U.S. military are exempted from the mandate but the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is forcing them to violate their faith or pay annual fines.
The U.S. government said the big corporations can access contraception through other means, CBN News reported, and that's what the nuns are asking.
"But it (the government) then bizarrely argues that exempting the Little Sisters and letting the nuns' employees get contraceptives the same way would pose a serious threat to the government's goal of providing universal free access to contraception and early-term pharmaceutical abortion, thus harming the 'harmonious functioning of a society like ours,'" according to the Becket Fund, which is representing the nuns.
Under the HHS guidelines, those with religious objections to contraception mandate can opt out by filling out a form to say that they object to the mandate. A third-party administrator will then provide the access to contraceptives to the employee.
But the nuns say filling out the form already make them complicit in providing abortifacients to their workers, which violate their religious beliefs.
The nuns said the government could achieve its goals if it provides the services through healthcare exchanges for everyone instead of forcing religious health insurance plans to offer services that violate their faith.
According to the Becket Fund, the nuns have received widespread support in the case including from religious leaders of different faiths and over 200 Democratic and Republican members of Congress.
