In May, the New York Court of Appeals upheld the state’s requirement that employers provide health care insurance that covers abortions.
A Roman Catholic diocese is appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court a New York appeals court ruling requiring religious charities to provide abortion coverage in their employee health insurance packages.
Lori Windham, vice president and senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, confirmed during an online press conference on July 25 that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, New York, is preparing a petition for certiorari, or review, to be filed in coming weeks with the U.S. Supreme Court. The Becket organization is part of the diocese’s legal team.
The case is Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany v. Harris. Adrienne A. Harris is Superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services, the agency that issued the health care insurance regulation now in dispute.
The deadline for filing the petition for certiorari, or review, was originally Aug. 19, but on July 26, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor extended the deadline to Sept. 18.
The case has been working its way through the judicial system for years.
In 2017, the New York Department of Financial Services issued a regulation requiring that employers fund abortions through their employee health insurance plans. The regulation exempted religious entities whose “purpose” is to inculcate religious values and who “employ” and “serve” primarily coreligionists. At the same time, the regulation forced religious organizations to cover abortions if they have a broader religious mission, such as serving the poor, or if they hire or serve people regardless of their faith.
Various Roman Catholic dioceses, along with Anglican nuns and Lutheran and Baptist churches, sued.
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York ruled in favor of the state in July 2020.
But in November 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court summarily vacated that decision.
The nation’s highest court sent the case back to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York for further consideration in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2021 ruling in Fulton v. Philadelphia.
