The Texas Catholic Conference welcomed the U. S. Supreme Court's ruling today that the federal government cannot force owners of closely held for-profit companies to violate their religious beliefs in order to provide certain services to employees under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
As the largest non-governmental health care provider in the United States, the Catholic Church has long supplied and advocated for universal, accessible, and life-affirming health care. Nevertheless, the Church ardently opposes provisions of the ACA that violate constitutional principles of religious freedom by coercing religious organizations to cover services, even if indirectly, that violate our religious faith and severely hinder the ability to fulfill our fundamental mission of caring for the poor and vulnerable.
The Texas bishops underscored their belief that a society dedicated to freedom and diversity must respect the freedom of its citizens to live and work in accordance with their religious convictions. As articulated by Pope Francis, “Religious freedom is not simply freedom of thought or private worship. It is the freedom to live according to ethical principles, both privately and publicly, consequent to the truth one has found.”