{"id":230261,"date":"2020-09-04T16:36:35","date_gmt":"2020-09-04T21:36:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=230261"},"modified":"2020-09-04T15:00:57","modified_gmt":"2020-09-04T20:00:57","slug":"washington-church-ninth-circuit-force-fund-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/washington-church-ninth-circuit-force-fund-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington State church asks Ninth Circuit: Don\u2019t let state force us to fund abortion"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(Alliance Defending Freedom<\/a>)\u00a0A Seattle-area church filed its opening brief<\/a> Wednesday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, asking for reversal of a lower court decision<\/a> that dismissed the church\u2019s lawsuit against the state of Washing\u00adton. The lawsuit<\/a> challenges a state law forcing churches to cover elective abortions in their health insurance plans.<\/p>\n

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys represent Cedar Park Assembly of God, challenging the constitutionality of the state\u2019s 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\u2019s mandate, the church\u2019s insurance carrier inserted surgical abortion coverage directly into the church\u2019s health plan. The insurer indicated that it would remove the offensive coverage if a court were to hold that the state law is unconstitutional.<\/p>\n