[Vision2020] 10=04-04 CNN Breaking: Catholic charity loses birth control appeal

[Art Deco aka W. Fox]

Catholic charity loses birth control appeal
Monday, October 4, 2004 Posted: 11:54 AM EDT (1554 GMT)


WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The Supreme Court Monday let stand a ruling that a 
Catholic charity must include prescription contraceptives in its employee health 
insurance plan even though church teaching condemns artificial birth control as 
sinful.

Without comment, the justices rejected an appeal by Catholic Charities of 
Sacramento of what it called a precedent-setting ruling by the California 
Supreme Court requiring that contraceptives be included in the prescription drug 
plan provided to its employees.

The charity said the ruling marked the first time a court has upheld a law 
forcing a religious institution to pay for conduct that conflicts with its 
religious beliefs.

California is one of about 20 states that require contraceptive coverage if the 
health plans have prescription drug benefits. The laws were adopted after 
lawmakers found that private employee prescription plans without contraceptive 
benefits discriminated against women.

The California Supreme Court ruled that the charity, incorporated separately 
from the church, did not qualify as a "religious employer" that was exempt from 
the law.

It said the charity offered secular services such as counseling, low-income 
housing and immigration services to people of all faiths, without directly 
preaching Catholic values.

The law, adopted in 1999, defined a religious employer as one whose purpose is 
to spread religious values, employs and serves mostly persons who share the 
religious beliefs and is a nonprofit religious organization under the federal 
tax code.

The charity could avoid any conflict with its religious values by not offering 
its employees any prescription drug coverage at all, the court said.

Kevin Baine, an attorney representing the charity, said in the appeal that the 
Supreme Court should clarify the limits on the state's power to force a church 
institution to pay for conduct that it believes is sinful.

"The specific issues in this case as well as the broader principles at stake are 
of interest to religious institutions across the country," he said.

Baine said the law will force Catholic Charities to sacrifice their religious 
principles. He called it an "unprecedented intrusion upon the religious freedom 
of Catholic Charities."

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer opposed the appeal and said it 
presented no grounds justifying Supreme Court review.

He rejected the charity's argument that the law was unconstitutional under the 
First Amendment's protection of freedom of religion.
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