If you were a sex slave who had recently been rescued, do you think you might want access to the full plethora of women’s reproductive health care, including (potentially) abortion services and information about contraception? Well, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops didn’t think so. And since the USCCB had a huge contract with the federal government to help victims of human trafficking that meant the official federal policy was being conflated with the teachings of the Catholic Church. The ACLU sued and just won their case in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The judge is a Clinton-appointee. If this case were to hold up under appeal, it would probably end the rationale for continuing George W. Bush’s Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Which would be fine by me.
Basically, the judge said the government can’t subcontract to a religious group if that religious group is going to use the money to impose its religious beliefs on others. The Obama administration had already terminated the USCCB’s contract. Now they look justified.
