Black Community News News and Commentary for Christians
Roman Catholic nuns and dioceses, Christian churches, and faith-based social ministries are fighting a mandate in New York that would force them to pay for abortions for their employees. They asked the U.S. Supreme Court to protect their free exercise of religion in Diocese of Albany v. Harris.
The coalition’s legal counsel, Becket Law, announced that 20 state attorneys general, Christians, Jews, Muslims, and legal scholars submitted briefs urging the high court to protect the religious organizations’ rights and block the mandate. From Becket Law (emphasis added):
After New York courts refused to protect the religious groups, Becket and Jones Day asked the Supreme Court to step in. The Justices reversed the lower courts’ rulings and told them to reconsider the case. However, the state courts ignored the Supreme Court and again refused to protect religious organizations, leaving them no choice but to return to the Supreme Court.
“When the government orders churches to pay for abortions, the Free Exercise Clause surely has something to say,” the state AGs wrote in their friend-of-court brief (PDF). “Yet many state governments read this Court’s precedent to the contrary.”
New York and other blue states are out of step with recent court rulings that protect the First Amendment rights of individuals and organizations.
Law firm Jones Day also represents the coalition.
“Religious groups in the Empire State should not be forced to pay for insurance coverage that violates their deeply held religious beliefs,” said Noel J. Francisco, partner-in-charge of Jones Day’s Washington office. “This broad coalition is asking the Court to make that clear and protect a diverse group of religious ministries from New York’s mandate.”
Blue state voters and politicians are obsessed with killing unborn babies. New York and California officials also take issue with crisis pregnancy centers’ informing women about abortion pill reversal (APR) services.
Letitia James, New York’s attorney general, intimated and threatened pregnancy centers to stop them from letting women know that abortions can be reversed. Two federal courts told her to stop. Rob Bonta, California’s attorney general, sued Heartbeat International and RealOptions Obria Medical Clinics for publishing information about APR.
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