Supreme Court Rules for Catholic Nuns Fighting Abortion Mandate

The Supreme Court has ordered New York courts to reconsider Diocese of Albany v. Harris, a case challenging New York’s abortion mandate, in light of Becket’s unanimous victory in Catholic Charities Bureau v. Wisconsin Labor & Industry Review Commission.

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In 2017, a group of Catholic and Anglican nuns, Catholic dioceses, Christian churches, and faith-based social ministries challenged New York’s mandate forcing them to pay for employees’ abortions. After New York courts declined to protect the faith groups, Becket and Jones Day asked the Supreme Court to step in. In 2021, the Justices reversed the lower courts’ rulings and told them to reconsider the case, but the courts ignored that instruction. Now the Supreme Court has ordered the New York courts to go back to the drawing board. (Watch this short video to learn more). Last week, New York admitted that its scheme could not stand as written based on the Supreme Court’s recent decision in favor of Catholic Charities Bureau.

When the New York State Department of Financial Services initially proposed the abortion mandate for health care plans, it promised to exempt all employers with religious objections. But after facing pressure from abortion activists, New York narrowed the exemption to cover only religious groups that primarily teach religion and primarily serve and hire those who share their faith. This exception does not apply to many religious ministries—including the ministries challenging the mandate here—because they serve all people, regardless of faith. For example, the exemption doesn’t extend to the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm and their Teresian Nursing Home because they serve the elderly and dying regardless of religious affiliation.

“New York wants to browbeat nuns into paying for abortions for the great crime of serving all those in need,” said Eric Baxter, vice president and senior counsel at Becket. “For the second time in four years, the Supreme Court has made clear that bully tactics like these have no place in our nation or our law. We are confident that these religious groups will finally be able to care for the most vulnerable consistent with their beliefs.”

After New York courts refused to protect religious organizations targeted by New York’s mandate, they asked the Supreme Court to take their case. In 2021, the Court reversed the New York state courts and told them to reconsider the case in light of Becket’s landmark victory in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia. But the state courts found Fulton inapplicable, forcing the religious groups back to the Supreme Court once again. Last week, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Catholic Charities, which says that government cannot use schemes like New York’s to discriminate among religious people. Today the Justices directed the New York courts to reconsider the case in light of that ruling.

“Religious groups in the Empire State should not be forced to provide insurance coverage that violates their deeply held religious beliefs,” said Noel J. Francisco, partner-in-charge of Jones Day’s Washington office. “We are confident that New York will finally get the message and stop discriminating against religious objectors.”

The case will immediately return to the New York Court of Appeals.

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