The Little Sisters of the Poor v. The Big Sisters of the Rich

While Planned Parenthood does not call itself a religious order, it clearly has many of the trappings of a passionate and serious cult

It isn’t every week that clear bookends of the culture war are so manifestly on display. Earlier this week the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruled that the Little Sister’s of the Poor must comply with the Health and Human Services’ requirement that they pay for their employees to contraception and abortifacients. The Little Sisters have vowed to not comply with the requirements that would force them to choose between serving the poor and their faith.

These women, who beg for their income, could be forced to pay fines of $100 per day per employee, which could amount to roughly $2.5 million in penalties out of their annual $6 million budget.

On the other hand, this past week Planned Parenthood was caught dealing human body parts from the aborted babies killed in their facilities. Dr. Deborah Nucatola spoke candidly about the selling of organs to two people posing as potential clients for purchasing “parts.”

While Planned Parenthood does not call itself a religious order, it clearly has many of the trappings of a passionate and serious cult. It’s Dogma is Any Abortion, Any Time. It demands complete, even wildly irrational, allegiance from its adherents—or else. Their faith is placed in the goddess of choice—well, as long as the choice is for an abortion. They even have their own trinity: “legal, safe and rare”. Hmmm, okay, the safe and rare parts, not so much. Our President, as the unofficial high priest, has asked God’s blessing to come upon them, making them too big to fail with even more business directed their way through Obamacare regulations.

The love and faith of the Little Sisters is perhaps most evident at the end of the lives of the residents they care for. The sisters bring them joy through socializing and even a little dancing, no matter what their physical limitations. And then when they are very close to dying, a sister is assigned around the clock so that no one will die alone.

As for the Big Sisters of the Rich, who have a government allowance of $528 million—nearly 100 times the annual budget of the Sisters of the Poor—their end of life story is slightly different. Yes, their business is also in end of life tissues, er, issues. Yes, there is someone there to make sure their clients are not alone in death, but their sole focus is to make sure that the forceps are in the right place so that the organs remain intact to be sold to the highest bidder. Livers, apparently, are fair game, but life is cheap in the mega-church of death on demand. 


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About Carrie Gress, Ph.D. 54 Articles
Carrie Gress has a doctorate in philosophy from the Catholic University of America. She is the editor at the Catholic Women's online magazine Theology of Home. She is the author of several books including The Anti-Mary Exposed, Theology of Home, and . Theology of Home II: The Spiritual Art of Homemaking. Visit her online at CarrieGress.com.