Attorneys associated with Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed a lawsuit in California state court on Feb. 4, claiming that the state’s health department is illegitimately forcing churches to shoulder the costs of elective abortion coverage in health insurance plans. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Skyline Wesleyan Church.
“Churches should not be forced to pay for the killing of innocent human life,” said ADF senior counsel Erik Stanley in a statement. “The government has no right to demand that church health insurance plans include coverage for elective abortions.”
According to the complaint, the California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) gave out an order August 2014 that required group health insurance plans issued in the state to “provide coverage for all legal abortions, including voluntary and elective ones.” The DMHC based this requirement on the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, a law which requires employer health plans to cover for basic healthcare services.
The plaintiffs allege that DMHC’s mandate violates California and U.S. Constitution, as well as the Weldon Amendment—legislation that prohibits states that receive funding for family planning from discriminating against healthcare plans based on whether or not they cover for abortion care.
In October, a similar lawsuit was filed by ADF in federal court on behalf of three other churches. The court is considering a request by attorneys for the state to dismiss the lawsuit. In 2014, both ADF and Life Legal Defense Foundation filed formal complaints with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services against DMHC, disputing the coverage requirement.
