Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing a Seattle-area church will be in court Thursday for oral arguments in Cedar Park Assembly of God of Kirkland v. Kreidler at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
ADF attorneys appealed to the court on behalf of Cedar Park Church after a lower court ruled that the church must violate its constitutionally protected, pro-life religious beliefs and abide by the state’s mandate that most Washington employers provide abortion coverage for employees.
In July 2021, the 9th Circuit reversed the district court’s initial decision to dismiss Cedar Park Church’s case, filed after Washington Senate Bill 6219 was signed into law in March 2018. The law requires Cedar Park to provide coverage for abortion if the church also offers maternity care coverage to its employees. Violators face fines and criminal penalties, including imprisonment. The district court ruled against the church again, this time on the merits, prompting ADF attorneys to appeal that ruling to the 9th Circuit. A number of pro-life organizations, along with 18 state attorneys general, filed friend-of-the-court briefs on behalf of Cedar Park in this second appeal.
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“Cedar Park Church celebrates and protects life from conception to natural death; it’s unconscionable for the state to force any church to pay for abortions,” said ADF Senior Counsel Rory Gray, who will be arguing before the court. “The abortion coverage mandate requires Cedar Park to act contrary to its religious beliefs and violates its constitutionally protected freedoms. The U.S. Supreme Court established that the government cannot compel religious organizations to act in violation of their sincerely held faith convictions. Cedar Park has fought to practice what it preaches long enough. We are urging the 9th Circuit to end over five years of back-and-forth litigation and uphold the constitutional liberties of Washington churches, like Cedar Park.”
Cedar Park had an abortion-free health plan. After SB 6219 went into effect, Cedar Park’s insurance carrier added surgical abortion and abortifacient contraceptive coverage to the church’s health plan to comply with Washington law. But Cedar Park’s insurer indicated that it would remove abortion coverage mid-year if churches obtained an exemption from Washington’s abortion-coverage mandate. That exemption is what Cedar Park has been seeking in court for the last five years.
