(Bloomberg View) — A group of Catholic nuns, the Little Sisters of the Poor, wants relief from the Affordable Care Act's mandate that it offer contraceptive coverage to its employees. The nuns lost a court case this week — and everyone who cares about religious freedom should be troubled by the reasons why.
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act lets religious believers seek exemptions from laws or regulations, but it also lets courts deny those exemptions for many reasons. The courts can conclude that the religious objection is insincere, a cover for some non-religious motive for shirking legal obligations. They can conclude that the government isn't subjecting the objectors to serious harm for following their consciences. They can conclude that the violation of conscience is necessary to pursue an important public purpose.
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
