Church Fights Back Against Washington State Law Forcing Churches to Fund Abortions

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing a Seattle-area church filed a petition Thursday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit asking the full court to review a decision by a split three-judge panel in Cedar Park Assembly of God v. Kreidler. The panel majority’s ruling forces the church to violate its constitutionally protected, pro-life religious beliefs and instead follow the state’s requirement that most Washington employers provide abortion coverage for employees.

Washington state Senate Bill 6219 was signed into law in March 2018 and requires Cedar Park to provide coverage for abortion if the church also offers maternity care coverage to its employees. Violators face fines and criminal penalties, including imprisonment. The district court first dismissed the case, which the 9th Circuit later reversed. Then, the district court said that being forced to include abortion in its health plan didn’t violate the church’s free-exercise rights, prompting ADF attorneys to appeal to the 9th Circuit again in November 2023.

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“Cedar Park Church celebrates and protects life from conception to natural death; it’s unconscionable for the state to force any church to pay for abortions,” said ADF Senior Counsel Rory Gray. “The U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed that the government cannot compel religious organizations to act in violation of their sincerely held faith convictions. Cedar Park has fought to practice what it preaches long enough. We are urging the full 9th Circuit to end the back-and-forth litigation and uphold churches’ ability to vindicate their First Amendment rights in court.”

Cedar Park had an abortion-free health plan. After SB 6219 went into effect, however, Cedar Park’s insurance carrier added surgical abortion and abortifacient contraceptive coverage to the church’s health plan to comply with Washington law. But Cedar Park’s insurer indicated that it would remove abortion coverage mid-year if churches obtained an exemption from the state’s abortion-coverage mandate. That exemption is what Cedar Park has been seeking in court for more than five years.

ADF attorneys argue in their petition that, unless the court intervenes, “the courthouse doors are barred to churches, who have no way of vindicating their constitutional rights,” stating that the panel majority’s decision “is unprecedented and gravely wrong.”

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