California bishops challenge state’s abortion mandate for insurers
October 02, 2014
The bishops of California have filed a complaint challenging a state agency’s decision that abortion is a “basic health care service” that must be covered by insurance policies.
“For the first time in California-- indeed, for the first time anywhere in the United States-- health plans are now required, as a matter of regulatory fiat, to cover all legal abortions, even late-term abortions, for any reason,” the California Catholic Conference stated in its complaint to the US Department of Health and Human Services.
“This is a coercive and discriminatory action by the State of California,” added Auxiliary Bishop Robert McElroy of San Francisco, chairman of the Conference’s Institutional Concerns Committee. “This demand by the State was directly targeted at Catholic institutions like Santa Clara University, Loyola Marymount University, along with other California employers and citizens. It is a flagrant violation of their civil rights and deepest moral convictions, and is government coercion of the worst kind.”
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Further information:
- California Bishops File Federal Complaint Against State (California Catholic Conference)
- California Catholics challenge abortion order (AP)
- California government tells Catholic universities they must offer employees abortion coverage (CWN, 8/25)
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