<p>This week &ndash; and for the first time in our nation&rsquo;s history &ndash; Catholic nuns will bring a case to the Supreme Court. The hearing will decide if the government can force the Little Sisters of the Poor to comply with Obamacare requirements regarding abortion-inducing drugs and services.</p>
<p>There is &ldquo;no good reason&rdquo; to force those who embody public service to violate their beliefs,&rdquo; argues House Speaker Paul Ryan. ;As it stands, the Chrisitan charity faces impossible decision: violate their faith by adding contraceptives and abortion services to their healthcare plans or pay a whopping $70 million fine. ;</p>
<p>Faith-based organizations like the Little Sisters have the option to submit a form to the government or their insurer which would make them exempt from the ;controversial coverage. That responsibility would fall to a third party. ;But the Sisters agree that signing ;such a form would be sinful. ;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Catholic teaching is very clear on contraception, abortion,&rdquo; says Sister Constance Veit. &ldquo;So we&rsquo;re being mandated to facilitate the provision of those services to our employees, and even though the government came up with what they call the accommodation, it&rsquo;s not just &#8211; if we were to sign that, it&rsquo;s not just a declaration that we won&rsquo;t cooperate. It&rsquo;s actually allowing them to take over our health plan and insert those services into it, so that&rsquo;s just something that we can&rsquo;t accept.&rdquo;</p>
<p>She says they would consider paying the fine if it wasn&rsquo;t so exorbitant. &ldquo;If it was some small amount, maybe we would say okay, we&rsquo;ll pay the fine and stick to our beliefs, but that kind of money is just impossible, so we really have no choice but to see it through to the end.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The fight is completely unnecessary. In fact, the healthcare plans of 1-in-3 Americans are not required to provide the products and services that violate the values the Little Sisters of the Poor have dedicated their lives to ;promoting. ;Big corporations like Pepsi, Exxon Mobil, and Visa are also exempt from the requirement. ;</p>
<p>The Little Sisters of the Poor already have a tough job: caring for the elderly poor. ;&ldquo;The last thing the federal government should do is make their jobs harder,&rdquo; argues Ryan. &ldquo;But that, unfortunately, is exactly what the administration is doing&hellip;Today, I stand in support of the Little Sisters.&rdquo;</p>
<p>This week&rsquo;s case &ndash; <em>Zubik v. Burwell</em> &ndash; will be the fourth time the Supreme Court has dealt with the Affordable Care Act and the second time it has referred an argument over its &ldquo;contraception mandate.&rdquo; ;There is concern that Justice Scalia&rsquo;s untimely death will put the vote at 4-4. But that analysis is based on the <em>Hobby Lobby case</em>, which was far more complicated. ;</p>
<p>Paul Ryan is not alone in his support for the beleaguered group. This Tuesday, a group of congressmen gathered on Capitol Hill to speak out in support of the charity. ;</p>
<p>Rep. Diane Black (R-TN) acknowledges that the Sisters face an impossible choice: &ldquo;Either they deny their deeply held beliefs and provide coverage for drugs that they deem to be morally objectionable to them or they face a $70 million fine in government penalties. Meanwhile, many of you don&rsquo;t know this, but corporations such as Exxon and Pepsi are exempt from this mandate altogether. Only in Washington would anyone call this fair. ;If we won&rsquo;t protect this fundamental right, then the Constitution&rsquo;s guarantee of religious freedom is no longer worth the paper that it&rsquo;s written on.&#8221;</p>
<p>&ldquo;This may be one of the most historic cases ever decided in America. The reason is it&rsquo;s about a fundamental principle, these rights to conscience, the sacred space of humanity, from which flows religious liberty and all other liberties,&rdquo; said Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NB). &ldquo;It is not conferred by the government. It is a right consistent with the dignity of all persons.&rdquo; ;</p>
<p>&ldquo;This is not a partisan issue,&rdquo; said Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL). &ldquo;This cannot be a partisan issue. This is a fundamental right. If we deny the Little Sisters of the Poor &#8211; women who are giving their lives to helping others and doing so much to take care of the life and the health of others &#8211; if we deny them the rights to conscience, who in America is protected?&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;When in your life did you ever think we would have to be standing here in our nation&rsquo;s capital protecting the Little Sisters of the Poor, protecting religious freedom, protecting religious conscience?&rdquo; asks Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA). ;&ldquo;This is not the America that we were raised in. This is not the America that has given 1.4 million lives to protect these rights, but we&rsquo;re here today, and we&rsquo;re asking every single American citizen to step forward and be heard.&rdquo;</p>
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