A Seattle-area church filed its opening brief Wednesday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, asking for a reversal of a lower court decision that dismissed the church’s lawsuit against the state of Washington.
- The lawsuit challenges a state law forcing churches to cover elective abortions in their health insurance plans.
- Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys represent Cedar Park Assembly of God, challenging the constitutionality of the state’s mandate requiring the church to cover abortion if it provides its staff members maternity coverage in their group health insurance.
- As a result of the state’s mandate, the church’s insurance carrier inserted surgical abortion coverage directly into the church’s health plan.
The insurer indicated that it would remove the offensive coverage if a court were to hold that the state law is unconstitutional. “No church should be forced to cover abortions, and certainly not a church that dedicates its ministry to protecting and celebrating life like Cedar Park does,” said ADF Legal Counsel Elissa Graves. “Cedar Park believes and teaches that every human life begins at conception and is worthy of protection until natural death, so providing insurance coverage for abortions is clearly not something the church can or should be forced to do. And Cedar Park doesn’t simply believe in the importance of human life, it puts those beliefs into practice by partnering with a local pregnancy care center, hosting an annual camp for foster care children, and ministering to hundreds of couples struggling with infertility. The state has no legitimate legal basis to force this church—or any other—into contradicting its foundational belief that human life is sacred.” The lawsuit, Cedar Park Assembly of God of Kirkland v. Kreidler , challenges the constitutionality of Washington State Senate Bill 6219, legislation signed into law in March 2018. The legislation requires […]
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Commentary by Jamie Pantastico
Pray for this Church and all the saints. Any government or government entity forcing death upon anyone is abhorrent.
This is the workings of an evil and demonically powered Washington State government.
‘“Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, Who write misfortune, Which they have prescribed’
Isaiah 10:1
