The National Coalition of American Nuns recently came out in support of the Affordable Care Act's provision for contraception coverage. In a petition addressed to the U.S. Supreme Court (who will soon hear two cases where employers are denying their employees coverage because they don't personally support contraception), the nuns wrote, "We want to make clear that the sin is not a person using birth control. The sin is denying women the right and the means to plan their families." Well, that's awesome.
Sister Donna Quinn, the head of NCAN, told ReligionDispatches.org that "it isn't 'faith and freedom' when reproductive autonomy isn't extended by the Catholic Church to women." She added, "It isn't freedom when a woman can be held hostage by the owner of a business." The petition (which is extremely close to reaching its goal of 5,000 signatures) also had this to say about religious freedom: "We know that religious freedom means that each person has the right to exercise their own religious beliefs; religious freedom cannot mean that an individual or a corporation gets to impose their religious beliefs on their employees."
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the two cases, Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood v. Sebelius, next week. Both involve for-profit companies refusing to provide their employees with mandated coverage because the companies' Christian owners do not believe in birth control. If that sounds stupid and terrible to you, that's because it is.
The NCAN nuns, though, are amazing. Bravo to Sister Donna and her cohorts for taking a brave and positive stand on this issue.
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I’m the senior entertainment editor at Cosmopolitan.com, which means my DVR is always 98 percent full. I love romance novels, bourbon, and canceling plans so I can watch Lost for the 50th time.
