Health Care & Hospital Law,
Government
Aug. 26, 2022
State can’t make churches cover employees’ abortions, judge rules
“[W]e’re pleased the court has found this mandate unconstitutional and will allow the churches we represent to operate freely according to their religious beliefs,” Jeremiah Galus, senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, a member of the legal team for the three church plaintiffs, said in a statement, “The government can’t force a church or any other religious employer to violate their faith and conscience by participating in funding abortion.”
A 2014 California mandate requiring churches and other employers to pay for their employees’ elective abortions under health insurance plans is unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled Thursday, finding that the state has the power to issue religious exemptions.
But U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller in Sacramento declined to find evidence of religious discrimination by the state writing, “the Churches did not allege facts showing that ...
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