ACLU sues HHS over Catholic human-trafficking victim care

The Boston Globe article fails to mention some important details, but here's the gist:

The US government is allowing a Catholic organization to limit a program for human-trafficking victims to groups that do not provide access to abortion or birth control, the American Civil Liberties Union charged yesterday in a lawsuit filed in Boston.

The US Department of Health and Human Services hired the US Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2006 to help immigrants who had been forced into prostitution or slave labor. The bishops have disseminated millions of dollars in federal funding the past two years to an array of nonprofits, including the International Institute of Boston, that directly assist victims.

.... Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the Catholic bishops in Washington, acknowledged the restrictions, saying they are in keeping with the church's religious and moral beliefs. She said they won the federal contract because they offer an extensive network of services for victims, including access to healthcare, housing, and job training. The bishops have received about $6 million in federal funding to aid more than 600 victims nationwide.

Reuters gets a little more specific:

Sister Mary Ann Walsh of the bishops' conference said the $6 million figure cited in the suit was the full amount authorized. But "far less" money had been appropriated, she said without giving a figure.

"The problem of trafficking in this country is huge and serious and the Catholic Church has the best network of services bar none," she said. "Going to the Catholic Church for social services is very logical."

Mary Ann Walsh hits the nail on the head: the fact that this organization is Catholic is irrelevant to the reality that the Catholic Church is objectively the best "contractor" to provide these services.

The ACLU is simply using the Church's firm opposition to abortion and contraception as a wedge to drive the Church out of the human services marketplace. Now that's discrimination. If the ACLU wins this suit, we can expect them to continue harassing Church organizations that dispense federal monies.