The U.S. Supreme Court today heard oral arguments via telephone in two related cases, Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania and Trump v. Pennsylvania, which involve yet more legal drama in the almost 10-year battle over whether a group of nuns must provide contraceptives, including possible abortifacients, to their employees via employer-provided health plans. A transcript of the arguments is also available.

The Little Sisters of the Poor have become a well-recognized symbol of (as well as a litigant in) the “endless war” between religious freedom and government encroachments dealing with abortion and contraception. In this case, the flashpoint involves an Obama-era Department of Health and Human Services regulation (HHS mandate) created in the aftermath of the passage of the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, in 2010, and the Trump Administration’s efforts to correct the conscience issues, which threatened the very existence of nonprofit religious entities who objected to that mandate.

After the Christian nonprofit organization Samaritan’s Purse set up a field hospital in New York City (NYC) to help New Yorkers during the coronavirus pandemic, it has begun winding down its efforts after one NYC politician called the organization “hateful” and “bigoted.”

Samaritan’s Purse originally teamed up with Mount Sinai Health System to help provide NYC with extra care during the pandemic.

On May 1, New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson wrote on Twitter, “It is time for Samaritan’s Purse to leave NYC. This group, led by the notoriously bigoted, hate-spewing Franklin Graham, came at a time when our city couldn’t in good conscience turn away any offer of help. That time has passed. Their continued presence here is an affront to our values of inclusion and is painful for all New Yorkers who care deeply about the LGBTQ community.”

In the latest saga of Planned Parenthood vs. David Daleiden and The Center for Medical Progress, a federal judge recently ordered the undercover investigator and his team to pay the abortion business approximately $1.6 million in damages.

David Daleiden and his organization The Center for Medical Progress first came to national attention when Daleiden and his team conducted undercover investigations at Planned Parenthoods in California and Texas, and also participated in industry events where they posed as an organ procurement company. The team was trying to discover if the abortion business was profiting off the sale of preborn remains to medical research facilities.

While it is legal to donate tissue and recoup the cost of transportation and storage, it is illegal to make a profit from it. This is done for ethical reasons. In theory, avoiding profit should dissuade Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinics from altering the procedure in order to get a specific specimen or condition, which is entirely illegal.