Image from Becket Website
CV NEWS FEED // A group of nuns and several other religious groups and organizations based in New York appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court on September 17, asking the Court to protect their religious liberty from a state law that would require abortions to be covered in their employee health insurance plans.
CatholicVote previously reported that the religious lawsuit, Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany v. Harris, has been in the judicial system for seven years. It was originally prompted by a 2017 mandate that spurred the Diocese of Albany, Anglican and Catholic nuns, other dioceses and non-Catholic churches, and religious ministries to sue for protection of their religious liberty rights.
Several state courts ruled in favor of the state, requiring the religious groups to include abortion coverage in the insurance plans. The case went to the Supreme Court in 2021, and the lower state court was ordered to reconsider its ruling in light of another religious liberty case.
In 2024, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York reviewed the case and upheld the mandate. The same ruling was upheld by the New York Court of Appeals ruling.
Now, the case is set to make its way back to the Supreme Court for the second time. According to a news release from the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the law firm representing the religious groups along with Jones Day, the Supreme Court will decide later this fall whether or not to hear the case.
“Religious groups in New York should not be required to provide insurance coverage that violates their deeply held religious beliefs,” Noel J. Francisco, partner-in-charge of Jones Day’s Washington office, stated in the news release. “We are asking the Court to protect religious freedom and make clear that the mandate cannot be applied to this diverse group of religious organizations.”
