Washington prevails in church's challenge against mandated abortion coverage

(CN) — The state of Washington defeated a lawsuit brought by a church that challenged a 2018 law requiring health insurance plans that provide maternity coverage to also provide substantially equivalent abortion coverage.

U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle in Tacoma on Tuesday issued summary judgment in favor of the state. Two years ago, the Ninth Circuit overturned Settle’s dismissal of the Cedar Park Assembly of God of Kirkland’s lawsuit.

The judge rejected Cedar Park’s argument that the law, Senate Bill 6219, violates its First Amendment right to freely practice its religious beliefs because it coerces the church to facilitate abortion through offering a group health plan. Specifically, Settle didn’t agree that the statute amounted to impermissible “religious gerrymandering” by favoring secular conduct and proscribing more religious conduct than necessary to achieve its purpose.

In fact, the judge said, SB 6219 doesn’t favor secular conduct.

“The law does not, for example, exempt non-religious organizations while targeting religious organizations,” according to Settle’s order. “There is no evidence that SB 6219 was enacted to burden or target religion.”

The church in suburban Seattle sued in 2019, claiming that state acted in concert with Planned Parenthood to draft and implement a law that requires all Washington employers to provide abortion coverage in their employee health plans. None of the exemptions that the law provides were available to churches or any other religious organization, according to the church’s initial complaint.

The judge had agreed with Washington that the church had no standing to sue, but the Ninth Circuit in 2021 overturned that conclusion. The appellate court found that Cedar Park had stated “an injury in fact” traceable to the statute because its health insurer, Kaiser Permanente, stopped offering a plan with abortion coverage restrictions in 2019, after the law was passed.

In Tuesday’s ruling on the parties’ dueling motions for summary judgment, the judge agreed with Washington that the statute was “rationally related to a legitimate governmental purpose.”

The state Legislature identified multiple legitimate governmental purposes for enacting SB 6219, Settle said, including promoting gender equity, promoting economic success of women, and improving women’s health.

Kevin Theriot, senior counsel with the Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing Cedar Park in the litigation, said they were disappointed in the court’s ruling and will be considering their options for next steps.

“By forcing pro-life churches to cover abortions in their health insurance plans, the state of Washington is going against past U.S. Supreme Court rulings that have consistently held that government hostility against people of faith is unconstitutional and has no place in our society,” Theriot said. “No one should be forced by the government to pay for abortions.”

Follow @edpettersson