Appeals court rules against Little Sisters of the Poor over HHS mandate

The Little Sisters of the Poor lost another round in court Oct. 22 when a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled 2 to 1 against the religious order getting a religious exemption from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services contraceptive mandate under a 2017 Trump administration rule.

Final HHS rule confirms religious exemption to contraceptive mandate

A rule finalizing the religious exemption to the contraceptive mandate should be “the end of a long cultural war fight” over the issue and confirm that the U.S. government “never needed nuns to give out contraceptives” to women, said the president of the Becket law firm.

Oral arguments heard in suits on religious exemption to mandate

The U.S. District Court in Philadelphia heard oral arguments Dec. 14 in a suit that aims to take away the exemption granted in October to the Little Sisters of the Poor and other religious employers allowing them to refuse to cover contraceptives for their employees on moral grounds.