Catholic Plan Must Include Birth Control

[Florida_Geek]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Church-Contraceptives.html

Catholic Plan Must Include Birth Control
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: March 1, 2004


Filed at 2:35 p.m. ET

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A Roman Catholic charitable organization must include birth control coverage in its health care plan for workers even though it is morally opposed to contraception, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday.

The 6-1 ruling could reach far beyond the 183 full-time employees of Catholic Charities and affect thousands of workers at Catholic hospitals and other church-backed institutions throughout the state
.. end of C&P..

[slinkerwink]

1. yes!

[sybylla]

2. Nice

Health care is about quality of life, not lifestyle and the religions of the world should not be able to interfere with their employees' access to it.

Now if we could just get the rest of the courts to agree.

[papau]

3. So all Catholic hospitals/ other church-backed institutions stock condoms?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-3808490,00.html

Catholic Plan Must Include Birth Control

<snip>The 6-1 ruling could reach far beyond the 183 full-time employees of Catholic Charities and affect thousands of workers at Catholic hospitals and other church-backed institutions throughout the state.<snip>


The high court said Catholic Charities is no different from other businesses in California, which is one of 20 states that require company-provided health plans to include contraception coverage if the plans have prescription drug benefits. In California, "religious employers" such as churches are exempt from the requirement. <snip>


The charity doesn't offer insurance to pay for birth control because it follows Roman Catholic Church dogma, which considers contraception a sin. The charity argued unsuccessfully that it should be exempted from state law along with the church.


The Supreme Court ruled that the charity is not a religious employer because it offers such secular services as counseling, low-income housing and immigration services to the public without directly preaching about Catholic values.


The court also noted that the charity employs workers of differing religions. <snip>

The 20 states that require private-sector insurance coverage for prescription contraceptives include Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Georgia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont and Washington.


The case is S099822, Catholic Charities of Sacramento, Inc., v. Superior Court of Sacramento County.


http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/S099822.DOC