The Supreme Court ordered New York on Monday to reconsider its requirements for religious organizations to pay for medical abortions as a part of employer insurance.
“Today is a win for nuns in New York who are challenging having to pay for abortions,” said Lori Windham, senior counsel at the nonprofit Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.
Plaintiffs in Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany v. Harris argues that New York’s requirements “violate the constitution’s ‘fundamental’ requirement of ‘neutrality between religion and religion’” according to a petition by Becket Fund lawyers.
In 2017, New York required all employers to cover abortions in its employee health insurance plans. A group of religious organizations including Anglican nuns asked to be excluded from this requirement but were overruled.
In 2021, the religious groups appealed the state’s ruling to the Supreme Court when the justices asked New York to reconsider in light of a separate religious requirement decision.
The religious groups appealed yet again when the New York courts “refused to follow” the Supreme Court’s guidelines for reconsideration.
“For almost a decade now, New York’s facially unconstitutional religious discrimination has diverted them from worshipping, teaching, and serving with their faith traditions,” according to the petition. “Being ‘forced to defend themselves on matters of internal governance is itself a tax on religious liberty,’’” the petition read.
In the most recent appeal to the highest court, the justices vacated a lower court’s decision and required the New York Court of Appeals to further consider the case in light of a recent religious tax exemption decision out of Wisconsin.
The court’s verdict in Catholic Charities Bureau v. Wisconsin extended religious tax exemptions to organizations which do not proselytize one particular faith or particularly serve members of said faith.
Windham said the court’s unanimous decision to uphold the tax exemption status supports the nuns’ case as it extended rights to religious organizations that do not proselytize, like the nuns, when providing social services.
“New York state now acknowledges that its mandate is unconstitutional at least in part,” Windham said.
The court vacated the New York order even though petitioners said the issue would prevent members of the Catholic diocese from doing other work.
“Granting the petition to vacate the decision below for a second time and remanding for yet further consideration would needlessly prolong this matter, imposing significant burdens on Petitioners and other religious organizations,” the petition read.
Windham said there is still more work to be done in order to achieve a complete solution for New York’s religious organizations impacted by the insurance requirement covering abortion.
“These nuns and religious ministries want to focus on their work to serve others rather than being in court,” Windham said. “We are going to urge the New York courts to move quickly and resolve this once and for all.”
