For more than a decade, the Little Sisters of the Poor (LSP), a Roman Catholic religious institute founded by Saint Jeanne Jugan in 1839, has been fighting a battle against pro-abortion Democrats and their anti-Catholic policies. In 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that LSP did not have to comply with an Obamacare mandate that would've forced it to provide contraceptive coverage in health care plans. Catholic teaching holds that contraception, like abortion, is prohibited, and mandating Catholic groups like LSP to provide it violates their First Amendment rights and the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act (RFRA).
But the Supreme Court ruling didn't stop some blue states from continuing its war on LSP, who provide charitable outreach to the poor and needy.
On Friday, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty once again filed an appeal on behalf of LSP. Why? Because Pennsylvania and New Jersey have kept taking LSP to state courts, which keep ruling the group must provide contraceptive coverage despite that 2020 SCOTUS ruling.
The Little Sisters have again asked a federal appeals court to block a nationwide ruling that rejected their protection from the federal government’s contraceptive mandate. pic.twitter.com/qpaywIefFE
— BECKET (@becketfund) December 15, 2025
Here's more from Becket's press release:
The Little Sisters of the Poor have again asked a federal appeals court late Friday to block a nationwide ruling that rejected their protection from the federal government’s contraceptive mandate. Represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and Clement Murphy, the Little Sisters have spent more than a decade in court fighting to defend their ministry from a federal mandate forcing them to either provide contraceptives in their healthcare plan or pay tens of millions of dollars in fines. They have already prevailed twice at the Supreme Court, including a 2020 ruling that upheld the federal conscience rule shielding them from the mandate. But Pennsylvania and New Jersey have fought in court to strip the Little Sisters of that protection. Earlier this year, a federal district court sided with the states, forcing the Little Sisters back to federal appeals court yet again.
Fourteen years ago, the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a federal mandate as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This mandate requires employers to provide contraceptives like the week-after pill in their health insurance plans, including some that can cause abortion. The original mandate exempted plans covering tens of millions of people for administrative convenience, but did not provide a religious exemption for groups like the Little Sisters of the Poor, an order of Catholic nuns who have served the elderly poor for nearly 200 years. After the Little Sisters won protection against the federal government at the Supreme Court in 2016 and in a new federal rule in 2017, Pennsylvania and New Jersey sued to take away that protection.
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You can read Becket's opening brief to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals here.
*Fourteen years ago*, the federal department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a federal mandate as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This mandate requires employers to provide contraceptives like the week-after pill in their health insurance plans, including some…
— BECKET (@becketfund) December 15, 2025
"The fourteen-year legal crusade against the Little Sisters has been needless, grotesque, and un-American," said Mark Rienzi, president of Becket and lead attorney for LSP, in that press release.
The original mandate exempted plans covering tens of millions of people for administrative convenience and “grandfathering,” but did not provide a religious exemption for groups like the Little Sisters of the Poor, an order of Catholic nuns who have served the elderly poor for…
— BECKET (@becketfund) December 15, 2025
The States have no business trying to take away the Little Sisters’ federal civil rights. The Third Circuit should toss the States’ lawsuit into the dustbin of history and uphold the protection the Little Sisters already won at the Supreme Court…twice," Rienzi continued.
Yes, that's correct. 2020 was not the only time SCOTUS ruled in favor of LSP. In 2016, SCOTUS issued a decision protecting LSP from the mandate, and the first Trump administration issued a rule in 2017 to protect LSP and other groups. More than a dozen states sued to challenge that rule, which led to the 2020 Supreme Court victory in Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania.
New Jersey is also the state persecuting First Choice Women's Resource Centers, a pro-life organization dedicated to helping women keep their babies. As Townhall reported back in November, New Jersey's AG Matthew J. Platkin subpoenaed First Choice for years of records, including donor names, donor solicitations, information on services, including abortion pill reversals, and personnel documents. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case on December 2, and early signs pointed to yet another victory for pregnancy centers.
But states like New Jersey and Pennsylvania won't stop harassing Catholic and other pro-life groups who object to contraceptive mandates and abortions. Hopefully, the third time's a charm and LSP will finally be left alone.
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