SW News: Two federal courts in California have ruled that the First Amendment preserves the churches' right to reject elective abortion coverage in their health insurance plans in response to challenges filed by four churches.

State officials have agreed to pay $1,400,000 towards the attorneys' fees for the churches in light of the court decisions in these lengthy disputes.

Attorneys from Alliance Defending Freedom are representing Skyline Wesleyan Church in a federal lawsuit together with Foothill Church in Glendora, Calvary Chapel Chino Hills in Chino, and The Shepherd of the Hills Church in Porter Ranch.  Skyline Wesleyan Church is located in the San Diego area.

The abortion coverage requirement in California was contested in both lawsuits. The courts determined in both instances that the US Constitution safeguards the churches' freedom to function in accordance with their religious views, including their belief in the sanctity of unborn lives.

ADF Senior Counsel Jeremiah Galus said that California officials, in collaboration with Planned Parenthood, have unconstitutionally targeted faith-based organizations for years. “This is a significant victory for the churches we represent, the conscience rights of their members, and other religious organizations that shouldn’t be ordered by the government to violate some of their deepest faith convictions. The government can’t force a church or any other religious employer to violate their faith and conscience by participating in funding abortion.”

The California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) issued its mandate in response to specific demands from Planned Parenthood. In spite of moral or conscientious objections and state recognition that religious organizations shouldn't be subject to such requirements, those demands asked agency officials to implement a "fix" requiring the health plans of religious organizations to cover abortion. DMHC released its mandate in 2014 after the abortion industry giant threatened to advocate its own legislative "solution" if the administrative agency did nothing. A year later, ADF filed the first Foothill church case against DMHC regarding California’s mandate and its violation of federal conscience law. In August 2022, a federal court ruled in favor of the three plaintiff churches. Then, ADF filed the second Skyline case in 2016.  State officials acknowledged that the abortion-coverage rule infringed on Skyline Church's constitutional rights in light of the court's decision in the Foothill Church case and consented to a negotiated court order.

The state of California contributed $1,400,000 towards the legal costs incurred by the churches as a result of the successful resolutions of the Skyline and Foothill Church cases.