Church can’t sue Washington over abortion coverage mandate, appeals court rules

March 13, 2025

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a church cannot sue Washington State over a law requiring most employers to carry healthcare plans that cover abortions.

The Christian Post reports that the court ruled against Cedar Park Assembly of God of Kirkland in a lawsuit the church had brought against Gov. Jay Inslee and Washington Insurance Commissioner Myron Kreidler over the state’s Reproductive Parity Act.

Clinton-era appointee Circuit Judge Susan Graber, who wrote the majority opinion, said that the church lacked standing to sue because “Washington’s conscientious objection statute exempts employers like Plaintiff from the consequences of the mandate.”

Graber wrote, “Washington’s conscientious-objection statute and regulations operate to make Plaintiff’s desired no-abortion group health coverage possible,” adding, “Nothing in the challenged law prevents any insurance company, including Kaiser, from offering Plaintiff a health plan that excludes direct coverage for abortion services.”

Graber concluded, “Washington’s statutes and implementing regulation enable insurance carriers to provide exactly the sort of coverage that Plaintiff requires.”

George W. Bush-era appointee Circuit Judge Consuelo M. Callahan authored a dissenting opinion that stated, “while Cedar Park can choose to not purchase abortion coverage for its ‘benefits package,’ it must still enter into a contract with an insurer for a ‘health plan’ that provides coverage of abortions.”

According to the Christian Post, Callahan disagreed with the majority’s claim that the church had two viable options for insurance coverage that would have excluded the abortion coverage requirement.

Callahan wrote, “Cedar Park is not eligible for these two plans, and the church submitted a declaration attesting to the fact that it cannot procure a health plan excluding abortion coverage that is comparable to the one it received from Kaiser Permanente.”

Callahan added, “The majority says that insurers can offer Cedar Park a health plan that excluding abortion coverage. But how? The majority doesn’t tell us, and its conclusion flies in the face of the plain language of the Parity Act.”

The Parity Act was signed into law by Inslee in March 2018.

Photo: top, Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Phil Roeder from Des Moines, IA