In its blatant support for a “religious liberty” lawsuit, brought by an order of Catholic nuns against the Affordable Care Act’s birth control mandate, Fox News has blatantly misrepresented the case and claimed that these sweet “Little Sisters of the Poor” are being forced, by the nun-hating Obama, to provide abortion pills to their workers. This isn’t true. But you wouldn’t know that if you watch Fox & Friends.
Thursday’s Fox & Friends began with some audio from a recent Supreme Court hearing in which oral arguments were presented in two cases (one of which is the Little Sisters case) challenging the Trump administration’s attempts to curtail access to birth control coverage under the ACA. Host Steve Doocy explained that the case involves employers who want to be exempt from having to provide those nasty slut pills to its employees, based on their “religious beliefs.”
Doocy introduced Sister Constance Veit who “is seeking to reverse a lower court order.” (During a 2016 appearance on Fox, Veit was encouraged by the Fox hosts to “continue her fight” against Obamacare).
Doocy informed us that a previous court order requested that the nuns and the government reach a compromise. He framed the message for us: “It’s very clear the Little Sisters have a moral obligation to providing to their employees birth control. That seems pretty simple, doesn’t it?” (I think he meant to say “moral obligation against providing…)
This is a LIE and a blatant misrepresentation. The Sisters are NOT being asked to “provide” birth control, but rather, are only being asked to sign a statement which affirms their religious exemption. Their current insurance carrier is the Christian Brothers who also have a religious exemption from having to provide birth control. As such, the “permission slip” allows the nuns and the government to work with an independent insurance carrier which will arrange for and provide the coverage. But the Little Sisters believe that signing the slip violates their religious liberty by forcing them to participate in a sin.
Doocy, a conservative Catholic, nodded as Veit noted that the “pro-life” position of the Catholic Church had been “pretty clear.” Doocy framed the propaganda with his “explanation” that all the nuns are trying to do is say, “look, for our employees, we have a moral obligation against providing it.” One more time - the Sisters aren't being required to provide anything except a signature that gets them off the hook!
Veit cleverly set up the false premise that the ACA covers abortion. She asserted that “no employees have raised it as an issue and we’ve never provided contraception or abortifacients as part of our employee health care and it’s never been an issue with us.” She spoke about how the nuns “believe in the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death” and that is understood by their employees.
Continuing to make the false claim that the birth control mandate covers abortion, Veit plaintively asked how her employees could “defend and protect the elderly … and then, on the other hand, be facilitating the killing of unborn human life.”
Doocy summed up the propaganda message in one, fell swoop: “For you, very clearly, this is a simple case of religious liberty.”
Sister Constance Veit is lying. The ACA DOES NOT require employers to provide abortion pills. It does, however, cover emergency contraception which the Catholic Church claims is an “abortifacient” when that doesn’t appear to be the case.
But who needs facts when there’s propaganda to push? Former Fox host Megyn Kelly has said the Little Sisters are “on the side of the angels.” So. I guess that’s all you need to know…!!!
Check out the Fox heavenly choir on Fox & Friends, Thursday, May 7th, 2020.