Little Sisters of the Poor appeal decision forcing them to pay for contraceptives

An order of Catholic nuns is fighting a lower court decision against a Trump administration rule allowing religious employers to opt out of having to provide their employees contraceptive coverage in health care plans, with their attorney decrying what he calls a “legal crusade” against them.  

The Little Sisters of the Poor, nuns devoted to ministering to the poor, are appealing a district court decision that sided with New Jersey and Pennsylvania in their efforts to block a rule from the first Trump administration that gives religious exemptions to the contraceptive mandate included in the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which has represented the Catholic nuns throughout their litigation against the contraceptive mandate, which dates back to 2011 and culminated in two previous U.S. Supreme Court victories, announced the appeal in a statement Monday.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear the appeal. Oral arguments will take place in early 2026. 

The contraceptive mandate requires employers who provide their employees with health insurance coverage to include contraceptives at no cost to employees. The Little Sisters of the Poor believe that the contraceptive mandate forces them to violate their sincerely held religious beliefs about human sexuality. 

In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked a lower court ruling ordering the Little Sisters of the Poor to allow the federal government to provide its employees with contraception and abortion-inducing drugs through the organization’s healthcare plan. Four years later, in 2020, the justices upheld the Trump administration rule and remanded the case back to the lower courts.

In August, Judge Wendy Beetlestone, appointed to the bench by former President Barack Obama, issued a ruling striking down the rule. Beetlestone agreed with Pennsylvania and New Jersey that they will face “financial injury” as a result of the rule because allowing “more entities to stop providing contraceptive coverage” will “result in more women residents seeking contraceptive care through State-funded programs.”

Beetlestone also expressed concern that the rule “extends exemptions to organizations that are unlikely, if ever, to be capable of maintaining a religious exemption,” warning that it “provides no backstop to who can claim an exemption.” 

Two months later, Beetlestone issued a stay of her decision, which applies only to the Little Sisters of the Poor while the litigation continues. The stay means that while her earlier ruling has not been reversed, the Little Sisters of the Poor will not have to abide by the contraceptive mandate at this time. 

“The fourteen-year legal crusade against the Little Sisters has been needless, grotesque, and un-American,” said Becket President Mark Rienzi, who is serving as lead attorney for the Little Sisters of the Poor. “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.” 

Mother Lorraine Marie Maguire of the Little Sisters of the Poor also lamented the long legal battle her organization has faced.

“For nearly 200 years, our order has welcomed the elderly poor and dying into our homes as we would welcome Christ Himself,” she stated. “It is painful that we have spent more than a decade defending that mission in court. We simply want to continue our work without being forced to violate our faith, and we pray Pennsylvania and New Jersey will end this needless harassment.”