Supreme Court Acknowledges Religious Beliefs Are Important and Protected

Independent Women’s Law Center Senior Legal Fellow Erin Hawley spoke with ABC News reporter Zohreen Shah on the importance of Wednesday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in Little Sisters of the Poor in upholding the government’s exemption for religious employers from the “contraceptive mandate” of the Affordable Care Act.

This is the third time over the course of a decade that the Supreme Court has been forced to step in to protect the conscience rights of Little Sisters of the Poor, an order of Catholic women religious serving the elderly poor in over 30 countries around the world. 

Little Sisters sought exemption from the ACA’s birth control mandate, arguing that the government could easily achieve its policy goal without forcing them to violate their deeply held religious beliefs.

IWLC filed an Amicus brief in the case, arguing not only that the government may exempt religious objectors from its contraceptive mandate, but that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) requires the government to do so.

Read IWLC’s brief HERE.