WASHINGTON, D.C. – One of the first cases in the Supreme Court’s history to be heard by the public in real-time audio—due to the coronavirus–is Wednesday’s arguments in Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania consolidated with Trump v. Pennsylvania, which challenges the Affordable Care Act’s birth control mandate.
The Trump Administration wants to allow almost any employer to deny coverage for contraception by citing religious or moral objections. This is the third time the mandate has reached the Supreme Court, but the first opportunity for Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to influence the outcome.
This case challenges Trump’s new rules that expanded the so-called “conscience” exemptions to allow nearly any private employer, university, or insurer to opt-out of the ACA mandate. This is clear evidence of the anti-reproductive rights Trump Administration doing the bidding of their far-right, religious extremist base in the midst of a presidential election year.
NOW members know that religion is no excuse for bigotry against women. Tens of millions of women need subsidized contraceptive services and supplies because they are unable to access or purchase them on their own, and more than half of young adult women say cost concerns have led them to not use their birth control method as directed.
What’s more, unintended pregnancy is deadly. It is closely correlated with infant mortality, maternal mortality, and increased risk of domestic violence homicide.
NOW members will be listening closely to this case, watching every dangerous move the Supreme Court makes and continuing our grassroots activism in defense of women’s access to life-saving health care.
A link to the live stream of Supreme Court oral arguments can be found here.