How the Little Sisters of the Poor case puts religious liberty at risk

[cleanhippie]

Zubik v. Burwell is the Supreme Court’s name for the set of cases more often identified with the Little Sisters of the Poor, a religious order that is also a party to the case. I filed an amicus brief in Zubik on behalf of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. I had never before filed a brief in support of the government in a case about the free exercise of religion.

The facts in this case, which will be argued Wednesday, are complicated. The Affordable Care Act requires insurance plans to cover contraception without imposing deductibles or requiring co-payments. But Catholic institutions object to providing contraception, and many conservatives of other faiths object to providing emergency contraception, which they plausibly view as sometimes causing very early abortions.

The government responded to these concerns in two ways. Churches and their integrated auxiliaries — the religious organizations most closely integrated with the church itself — are exempt. What’s more, their insurance companies are exempt. The regulation carefully exempts these employers and, in a second clause, exempts any “health insurance coverage” provided “in connection with” their health plans.

--snip--

So their real objection is to what their secular insurers are required to do. The religious objectors demand a right to control how the government regulates insurance companies.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-the-little-sisters-of-the-poor-put-religious-liberty-at-risk/2016/03/20/eaaa6a34-e4b4-11e5-a6f3-21ccdbc5f74e_story.html

[TlalocW]

1. There's an argument

That the rhythm method causes more natural abortions than any method Catholics object to. Not every fertilized egg (their definition of when life begins) survives implantation in the uterus, which other birth control methods prevent as well. Both sperm and eggs can linger in the woman's body though. So getting in some sex a few days before ovulation begins can leave some sperm hanging around that fertilize an egg. Coming out of ovulation, an egg can also hang around past its prime and get fertilized. Either way, old sperm plus fresh egg or old egg plus fresh sperm = weakened zygote that has is less likely to implant itself in the uterus = abortion by their own definition.

TlalocW

[cleanhippie]

2. You are using reason, not faith.