时间:2025-04-26 20:51:50 来源:网络整理编辑:休閑
The Supreme Court failed to resolve a knotty dispute between faith-based groups and the Obama admini
The Supreme Court failed to resolve a knotty dispute between faith-based groups and the Obama administration over birth control on Monday, the latest indication of the shorthanded court's struggle to find a majority for important cases taken up before Justice Antonin Scalia's death.
SEE ALSO:4 reasons women are stoked to get birth control without seeing a doctorThe justices asked lower courts to take another look at the issue in a search for a compromise, issuing an unsigned, unanimous opinion. The case concerns the administration's arrangement for sparing faith-based groups from having to pay for birth control for women covered under their health plans.
Tweet may have been deleted
"The court expresses no view on the merits of the cases," the justices wrote, ending a major confrontation over President Barack Obama's health care law ended with a whimper and no resolution. The matter almost certainly will not return to the Supreme Court before the 2016 presidential election, and perhaps not until a new justice is confirmed to take Scalia's seat, if at all.
The outcome suggested the court lacked a majority for such a significant ruling, underscoring the effect of Scalia's absence. Already two cases have resulted in 4-4 ties since the conservative's death in February.
The lack of a resolution leaves the government able for now to ensure that women covered by faith-based groups' health plans have access to cost-free contraceptives. But the groups, which include not-for-profit colleges and charities, won't face fines for not adhering to administration procedures for objecting to birth control benefits.
By complying, they argued they would be complicit in making contraceptives available in violation of their religious beliefs as their insurers or insurance administrators would then assume responsibility for providing birth control.
Tweet may have been deleted
The justices appeared evenly divided on the question when they heard arguments in late March. And the court seemed to acknowledge the division shortly after when it ordered the two sides to file a new and unusual round of legal briefs in search of a compromise, perhaps by making contraceptive coverage available without requiring a notice of objection.
Eight appeals courts nationwide have sided with the administration; four of those were challenged in the case before the Supreme Court. One court has ruled for the groups so far.
In 2014, the justices divided 5-4 with Scalia in the majority to allow some "closely held" businesses with religious objections to refuse to pay for contraceptives. That case involved the Hobby Lobby chain of craft stores and other companies that said their rights were being violated under the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
SEE ALSO:How Congress is quietly trying to keep millions of women from getting birth controlCatholic and Protestant colleges, charities and advocacy groups invoked the same law in asking the government to find a way that does not involve them or their insurers in birth control provisions.
The challengers included Bishop David Zubik, head of the Catholic Diocese in Pittsburgh; the Little Sisters of the Poor, nuns who run more than two dozen nursing homes for impoverished seniors; evangelical and Catholic colleges in Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington, D.C.; and the anti-abortion advocacy group Priests for Life.
In a statement on Monday, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards said:
While today’s decision is welcome news in that most women who need affordable birth control will continue to be able to access it through their insurance no matter who their employer is, women at nonprofit organizations continue to face uncertainty. It is unacceptable that it remains a question whether women could be denied access to birth control with no copay. We hope the lower courts who continue to hear this matter will act to give women at religiously affiliated organizations clear resolution in the future over whether their boss will be able to ultimately deny them coverage.
Contraception is among a range of preventive services that must be provided at no extra charge under the health care law. The administration pointed to research showing the high cost of some methods of contraception discourages women from using them. One effective means of birth control, the intrauterine device, can cost up to $1,000.
Houses of worship and other religious institutions whose primary purpose is to spread the faith are exempt from the birth control requirement.
Other faith-affiliated groups have to tell the government or their insurers if they object, and allow their insurer or third-party administrator to handle matters related to birth control.
Some groups, including Little Sisters of the Poor, contract with church-based insurers, which themselves are exempt from having to provide contraceptives.
A ruling for the groups, the administration argues, would disadvantage tens of thousands of women.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
TopicsSupreme Court
Fyvush Finkel, Emmy winner for 'Picket Fences,' dies at 932025-04-26 20:48
C羅恐因曼聯戰績至少失500萬鎊獎金 僅有一項安慰2025-04-26 20:42
國足最後一戰需警惕黃牌 為2023亞洲杯“掃清障礙”2025-04-26 19:38
廣州隊新星留洋仍存變數 歐洲轉會窗已關閉還需等待2025-04-26 19:15
This German startup wants to be your bank (without being a bank)2025-04-26 19:10
國足戰阿曼延續三中衛戰術 別老隊員或迎國家隊告別演出2025-04-26 19:01
C羅 :北馬其頓奇跡到此為止 葡萄牙隊永遠是大熱門2025-04-26 19:00
國足連續強化射門訓練強攻阿曼 傷員僅剩金敬道一人2025-04-26 18:20
Early Apple2025-04-26 18:11
國足最後一戰需警惕黃牌 為2023亞洲杯“掃清障礙”2025-04-26 18:05
MashReads Podcast: What makes a good summer read?2025-04-26 20:16
範加爾給曼聯拆台:滕哈格千萬別去 那不是家球隊2025-04-26 20:05
戴偉浚已經歸隊參加合練 朱辰傑鄭錚單獨慢跑恢複2025-04-26 19:54
桑喬式回歸?曝曼市雙雄哄搶亞伯拉罕 報價9000萬歐2025-04-26 19:43
New Zealand designer's photo series celebrates the elegance of aging2025-04-26 19:31
魯尼 :C羅當初傲慢又愛假摔 我14歲曾讓弗格森滾蛋2025-04-26 19:29
曝國足VS阿曼23人大名單 :吳曦頂替受傷的金敬道 其餘不變2025-04-26 19:03
郭田雨今麵見維澤拉眾隊友 已配臨時翻譯錯過熱身2025-04-26 18:36
Two astronauts just installed a new parking spot on the International Space Station2025-04-26 18:34
巴西歸化4將路在何方 :洛國富最搶手 艾克森陷停擺2025-04-26 18:09