What the Future Holds: Why the Little Sisters of the Poor Case Was Necessary and Why Victory Is of Such Vital Importance

For those who had any misgivings about the Zubek case currently before the Supreme Court, this story leaves no doubt as to why the Little Sisters of the Poor litigation was necessary and why victory in that lawsuit is so important.  (The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany's press release on the lawsuit appears here).

The "model language" of one mandate from the New York Department of Financial Services requires insurers of individual and small group health plans to provide coverage for "therapeutic" and "non-therapeutic" abortions.  The plaintiffs allege that a second, previously undisclosed mandate also requires coverage for abortion "under the rubric of 'medically necessary' surgery."

The actions of New York's DFS are an example of the direction that these matters will take in the future: mandated insurance coverage for surgical abortion by Catholic and other religious employers who object to providing any support for or participation in the procedure.  At some point in the near future will come the mandate that the procedure actually be performed in Catholic hospitals and other institutions that object.  These mandates will be created through unelected administrative bureaucracies since they would not survive public scrutiny through the democratic process.  Thus, the losers in all of this are not only religious institutions and people of conscience, but all those who value democratic government, not to mention the unborn.