Requirement creates threat to religious freedom
By Bob Unruh
(Image courtesy Unsplash)
A long list of states and advocacy organizations have coalesced to support a Washington state church that is fighting political demands that it pay for abortion coverage in its insurance policy.
A report from the ADF, which is working on the fight on behalf of the Seattle-area Cedar Park Church, said 18 states now have joined the court arguments on behalf of the church.
As have pro-life groups and religious liberty advocates.
It’s all in opposition to the plan by the state of Washington to keep the abortion industry financially funded by demanding that all insurance policies cover abortion – and all policy holders pay for it.
When the state, through its SB6219 law, forced churches to cover elective abortions in health insurance plans, the church’s insurance carrier automatically added the coverage – and the costs.
The fight went to court, where a lower-level judge claimed the church is required to violate its constitutionally protected pro-life religious beliefs and fund the state’s abortion mandate.
Now it’s pending before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and multiple groups have filed friend-of-the-court briefs in support of the church’s religious freedom.