A federal district court judge in California is allowing a churchs lawsuit against the state over an abortion funding requirement to proceed. But that was only one of two decisions bearing on the case issued two days apart and the other was not favorable to pro-life interests.
Skyline Wesleyan Church had filed a lawsuit against the state asserting that a stage agencys new interpretation of California law would violate both federal and state law by requiring the church to provide insurance coverage for elective abortions. The California Department of Managed Healthcare responded by requesting the court dismiss the case but Judge Marilyn Huff disagreed in an opinion issued on June 20.
In Skyline Wesleyan Church v. California Department of Managed Health Care the CDMH claimed that abortion is a basic right" and therefore all insurance plans had to include it. To do otherwise would constitute discrimination prohibited by the California Constitution. The church objected that the requirement violated its First and Fourteenth Amendment rights as well as its rights under the California state constitution. The church also objected that the agency had not followed state law by issuing the order without required public notice and comment.