High Court Turns Down Case on Mandatory Contraceptive Coverage
High Court Lets N.Y. Law Stand: Religious Groups Must Offer Employees Birth Control Coverage
NEW YORK — The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal by the Catholic Charities of New York to review a law requiring employers, including religious groups, to provide birth control coverage as part of workers' health insurance plans.
On Monday, the first day of its new term, the nation's high court let stand a ruling by the Court of Appeals that upheld the 2003 NY state law, which mandates religious charities, hospitals and schools in the state to offer contraception coverage if the institutions offer health insurance for other prescriptions.
The state Catholic Conference denounced the Supreme Court's rejection of the petition, which was also backed by Orthodox Jewish and other religious groups in a brief to the court.
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"This is a sad day for religious liberty in our state and nation," said Richard Barnes, executive director of the conference, which serves as the public-policy arm of the New York Catholic community.
"The Catholic Church's unpopular teaching on contraception was an easy target for the church's detractors. But as the state's attorneys have conceded in open court, the principle they were defending would have been exactly the same if the issue was abortion rather than contraception."
The Catholic Church considers the use of contraception a sin since it blocks the purpose of sexual intercourse, thus violating the natural law of procreation.
Barnes said that for now the church will continue to offer the contraceptive coverage to its employees "under protest."
However, the Catholic leader said the consideration to remove all prescription-drug coverage under health insurance plans offered to workers is a "painful possibility," now that the legal challenge has been struck down.
Catholic institutions employ tens of thousands of people in New York and the church is the largest nonpublic provider of education, health care and human services in the state, reported The Ithaca Journal.
Critics of the petition, meanwhile, showed little sympathy for Monday's outcome.
Louise Melling, director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Reproductive Freedom Project, hailed the decision, saying, "Religiously affiliated organizations that provide nonreligious services to the public must play by public rules."
JoAnn Smith, head of Family Planning Advocates of New York State, said, "Women deserve access to reproductive health care, including contraceptive coverage, to help them plan their families and stay healthy."
The Supreme Court did not give an explanation why it refused to hear the appeal. On Monday, the court also turned down an appeal by an evangelical group that was denied access to public meeting rooms for worship services at a library in Antioch, Calif.
Alliance Defense Fund attorney Jordan Lorence, who is representing the evangelical group in the library case, told the Associated Press Monday that there is still hope for the Catholic Charities case reaching the Supreme Court in the future.
"The Supreme Court likes to have issues percolate for a while at the lower courts," said Lorence. "They also look for the best vehicle to address a specific issue.
"This very well could end up at the Supreme Court," he stated.
