Black Community News News and Commentary for Christians
The state of New York in 2017 mandated that certain employer-sponsored health plans cover “medically necessary” surgical abortions and abortion-inducing drugs, with limited religious exemptions.
New York subsequently narrowed the scope of religious exemptions, which did not include members of a coalition of nuns, Catholic dioceses, churches, and faith-based social ministries that challenged the mandate in court.
The case reached the New York Supreme Court, which upheld the mandate. The coalition, represented by Becket Law and law firm Jones Day, asked the U.S. Supreme Court in 2021 to protect their religious freedom. The high court vacated lower court rulings and told them to reconsider in the light of Fulton v. City of Philadelphia (2021).
In Fulton, all nine justices agreed that Philadelphia’s so-called non-discrimination requirement imposed a burden on Catholic Social Services. The lower courts apparently didn’t care about the decision and continued to impose the mandate on members of the coalition.
The coalition appealed to the Supreme Court again.
Becket Law announced that the Supreme Court sent the case back to the lower courts to reconsider, this time in light of its recent decision in Catholic Charities Bureau v. Wisconsin Labor & Industry Review Commission (2025). The court ruled on June 3 that the state of Wisconsin violated the First Amendment when it discriminated against Catholic Charities.
So it’s back to the drawing board for New York. Will the courts fail to protect the religious freedom of coalition members again? They consistently fail to apply religious exemptions to these religious organizations, which want nothing to do with killing unborn babies.
“New York wants to browbeat nuns into paying for abortions for the great crime of serving all those in need,” said Eric Baxter, vice president and senior counsel at Becket. “For the second time in four years, the Supreme Court has made clear that bully tactics like these have no place in our nation or our law. We are confident that these religious groups will finally be able to care for the most vulnerable consistent with their beliefs.”
