02-07-2012, 05:53 PM
The question here is denial of women's health services. The First Amendment guarantees right to worship as an individual right. The individual right trumps the group's. The group--the Catholic Church--cannot force non-Catholics to observe its dogma.
Here is the text of the First Amendment:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
What it states is that the nation shall not establish a national religion. Then it goes on to guarantee the individual right to worship. It does not grant any church or religion the right to behave however it pleases. The United States prohibits animal and human sacrifice, for instance. It prohibits polygamy. And it prohibits a religious entity from refusing basic care to any specific group of people.
Here is the text of the First Amendment:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
What it states is that the nation shall not establish a national religion. Then it goes on to guarantee the individual right to worship. It does not grant any church or religion the right to behave however it pleases. The United States prohibits animal and human sacrifice, for instance. It prohibits polygamy. And it prohibits a religious entity from refusing basic care to any specific group of people.