A good overview of the NY Court of Appeals decision earlier this week regarding a state law that requires employers' insurance plans to cover prescription contraceptives. Excerpt:
[A] New York appeals court ruled 3-2 in favor of the law, and against the religious organizations. The law indeed burdens the churches' right to the free exercise of religion, the court said, but giving them an exemption "may ultimately cause a greater number of women employed by nonexempt religious organizations to be without adequate health coverage."
The Christian groups had argued that funding artificial contraception would also create the impression that they supported such contraception. The court told them, in essence, that they should just preach louder to counter such impression. When words conflict with actions, the court suggested, words win out. (Parishioners, the court confidently said, would see the funding as "compliance under protest.")
That's baloney, said the two dissenting judges: "It is the fact that their opposition is so public and widespread which makes the Catholic plaintiffs, in particular, more susceptible to charges of hypocrisy, especially since, as has been emphasized, these plaintiffs could avoid supporting contraceptive use by choosing not to provide any prescription coverage to their employees."
