Catholic charities should not be exempt from contraception law, AU says

Catholic Charities of Sacramento should not be exempt from a California law that requires employers to provide contraceptive coverage to employees, Americans United has argued in a brief filed with the California Supreme Court.

Catholic Charities, a social service provider that receives huge government subsidies annually, is challenging a 1999 California law that requires most employers in the state to provide contraceptive coverage to employees through health-care plans. The law contains an exemption for houses of worship, private religious schools, seminaries, convents and other religious institutions deemed "pervasively sectarian."

State officials have refused to exempt Catholic Charities, arguing that the organization is not totally religious. They have noted, for example, that Catholic Charities hires non-Catholics, makes its services available without regard to religion and does not seek to convert those it serves to Catholicism.

The organization argues that since Catholic doctrine holds that use of artificial birth control is a sin, it cannot morally offer contraceptives to its employees. In its brief, Americans United argues that Catholic Charities could easily circumvent the issue by providing its employees with a health-care stipend and letting them choose their own plan.

The brief also argues that purchase of a health-care plan does not infringe upon Catholic Charities' freedom of religion because the decision to use the plan,to purchase contraceptives rests ultimately with the employee.

"When Catholic Charities purchases a comprehensive insurance plan," insists the AU document, "it cannot be said to 'participate in, facilitate, support, or materially cooperate' with any particular employee's use of that plan any more than it can be said to `participate in, facilitate, support, or materially cooperate' with an employee's decision to use a portion of his or her paycheck to pay for an abortion or to give a donation to the local Planned Parenthood."

The case, Catholic Charities of Sacramento, Inc. v. California Department of Managed Care, is pending before the California high court. Lower state courts have ruled against Catholic Charities.

Copyright Americans United for Separation of Church and State Apr 2002
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