Federal Appeals Court Rules Little Sisters of the Poor Must Provide Birth Control

Mother Loraine Marie Maguire, of the Little Sisters of the Poor, speaks to the media after arguments at the US Supreme Court in Washington on March 23, 2016. Mark Wilson/Getty Images

A Roman Catholic charity that objects on religious grounds to having to provide health insurance that covers birth control, sterilization, and abortifacients for its employees under the Obamacare law has lost the latest round of a long-running legal battle in a federal appeals court.

The Obama-era contraception mandate has been a source of controversy since it surfaced in 2011, reportedly spurring lawsuits from upward of 100 private individuals, religious groups, state governments, and businesses that objected to it on religious grounds. In 2017, the Trump administration created a regulation that exempted religious groups from complying with the Obamacare mandate.