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ALBANY – New York’s highest court this week upheld state regulations requiring workplace health insurance to cover “medically necessary abortion services.” The ruling ended a four-year effort by Catholic organizations and other religious groups to overturn the settlement based on religious and moral objections.
In response to the state Court of Appeals ruling, the Bishop of the Diocese of Albany, Edward B. Scharfenberger, said on Wednesday that he would take the matter to the United States Supreme Court on grounds. constitutional.
“There are far too many issues at stake in terms of religious freedom and freedom of conscience to allow this to hold,” said Scharfenberger. “It is an issue that affects people of all faiths, not just one faith… the freedom to choose to protect life is violated by unconstitutional regulations requiring the insured to pay for its destruction.”
Religious employers can still search for a health care contract that excludes coverage for abortions, the state’s financial services department said on Wednesday. An attorney for the bishop, however, said the exemption is so narrow that the option cannot be used.
On Monday, the state appeals court voted 6 to 1 to uphold lower court rulings that require health insurance companies operating in New York City to provide abortion coverage to all clients. The Court of Appeal dismissed the Catholic organizations’ appeal to hear the case, saying it concluded that “no substantive constitutional issue is directly involved.”
In 2016, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany and other religious employers sued the state’s financial services department over its 2015 settlement that effectively required religious employers to pay for abortion services, despite their moral and religious objections.
The regulation requires state-regulated commercial health insurance plans to include coverage for abortions deemed medically necessary. The regulation requires coverage of “therapeutic” abortions as well as abortions for rape, incest and birth defects under the broad heading of “medically necessary”.
State courts have not engaged in a constitutional argument in response to the lawsuit brought by religious groups. Instead, the courts have ruled that New York has the legal authority to set minimum coverage for licensed health insurance companies statewide. The state’s financial services department said its regulations protect workers with company-provided health insurance coverage who need surgery.
An Appeals Division panel said in July that engaging in some of the constitutional arguments presented by Catholic groups “would force this court into the thicket of making a religious value judgment.”
The panel continued, “This particular ‘medically necessary’ procedure has been among the most controversial issues in our politics for several decades.”
In 2017, the Department of Financial Services granted an exemption to “religious employers”. On Wednesday, the agency said in a statement that faith-based employers who meet the definition of New York’s insurance law “can get a contract without coverage for medically necessary abortions. In which case, insurers must provide employees a rider, at no cost, that covers medically necessary abortion services.
But the exemption for religious employers is so narrowly defined that it is inaccessible, according to Michael Costello, the lawyer for the Bishop of Albany.
“In practice, the Department of Financial Services as well as insurance companies have consistently denied granting the exemption to religious employers, including the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany and religious communities,” Costello said. “The limited ‘religious employer’ exemption in reality and enforcement is non-existent.”
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