California district judge appointed by Obama rules that forcing churches to pay for abortions is unconstitutional

Three California churches have scored a major victory for religious freedom after a district judge ruled that compelling churches to pay for abortions as part of their medical insurance plans is unconstitutional.

The chief judge of California's Eastern District, Kimberly J. Mueller, appointed by former President Barack Obama, ruled on August 24 that the California Department of Managed Health Care could not force churches to pay for abortions against their will.

Mueller wrote that Mary Watanabe, the director of the DMHC, "has not shown '[she] lacks other means of achieving [her] desired goal without imposing a substantial burden on the exercise of religion by'" the plaintiff churches: Foothill Church, Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, and Shepherd of the Hills Church.

"The Director's denial of the Churches' request for exceptions to accommodate their religious beliefs, based solely on the fact that those requests did not originate with a plan, was not narrowly tailored to serve a compelling interest," Mueller added.

This decision is the culmination of an eight-year struggle between the state and various religious organizations regarding abortion coverage. Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in America, lobbied aggressively to prevent California from granting religious institutions an abortion exemption in their health care policies. Alliance Defending Freedom, the group providing legal counsel to the plaintiff churches, unearthed emails between Planned Parenthood officials and the DMHC indicating that as early as February 2014, Planned Parenthood began investigating why religious universities in California were not required to sponsor abortion as part of their offered health care plans.

At the time, Brianna Pittman, the former legislative associate for Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, inquired of the DMHC "whether there is a regulatory/ administrative fix" for the abortion exemptions which had been granted to "Catholic Universities."

This discussion about an "administrative fix" for the abortion exemption then spread from religious universities to churches themselves. Since the DMHC had determined that "abortion is a basic health care service," it argued that churches could not "discriminate against women by limiting or excluding coverage for terminations of pregnancies."

However, Judge Mueller disagreed, siding with the plaintiffs, who argued that forcing them to cover abortion services violated their First Amendment rights to the free exercise of religion. Mueller dismissed another claim from the plaintiffs, which argued that their 14th Amendment rights to equal protection had also been violated.

ADF senior counsel Jeremiah Galus couldn't be happier with the ruling.

"For years, California has unconstitutionally targeted faith-based organizations," Galus said, "so we’re pleased the court has found this mandate unconstitutional and will allow the churches we represent to operate freely according to their religious beliefs."

"Elective abortions are not part of 'basic health care,'" Galus continued. "They have no business being forced into the medical coverage provided by churches that do not wish to support terminating lives due to very real, sincere, and well-known faith convictions."

H/T: The Washington Free Beacon