NY state drops case to mandate religious groups cover abortion in employee health insurance

ALBANY, N.Y. (OSV News) — In a sudden development in a case that has lingered in the courts for nearly a decade, the state of New York has given up on trying to enforce an insurance regulation that would have forced Catholic and other religious organizations to pay for abortions.

Recent actions by two of the plaintiffs in a coalition of religious groups had rendered moot the case of Diocese of Albany v. Harris, state officials said in a stipulation and order signed Jan. 16 and filed with the state Supreme Court in Albany.

Attorney General Letitia James; Peter Dean, the general counsel for the state Department of Financial Services; and Kaitlin Astrow, acting superintendent of the department, noted that Catholic Charities of Brooklyn has created a self-insured plan for its employees that will not be subject to state regulations, and the Sisters of St. Mary, an Anglican order with a house in Greenwich, is in the process of moving to a facility out of state.

Other plaintiffs were the Catholic dioceses of Albany and Ogdensburg, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Ogdensburg, St. Gregory the Great Roman Catholic Church Society of Amherst, the Teresian House Nursing Home Co. in Albany, Depaul Housing Management Corp., and Baptist and Lutheran churches.

The state requires most private insurance plans to cover abortion.

In 2017, the Department of Financial Services mandated that employers in their employee health insurance plans cover both abortifacients and surgical abortions, although abortion has been legal in the state for decades prior to that mandate.

Then state officials narrowed an exemption only to religious entities that primarily employ and serve people of their own faith.

Attorneys for Becket, a Washington-based religious liberty law firm, which represented the coalition, along with Jones Day and Tobin and Dempf, claimed victory.

“For nearly a decade, New York bureaucrats tried to strong-arm nuns into paying for abortions because they serve all those in need,” said Lori Windham, senior counsel at Becket, in a statement. “At long last, the state has given up its disgraceful campaign. This victory confirms that the government cannot punish religious ministries for living out their faith by serving everyone.”

The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court twice.

In 2021, the court vacated rulings by New York state courts and asked them to reconsider the case in light of its ruling in Fulton v. Philadelphia. In that case, the high court ruled Philadelphia’s refusal to contract with Catholic Social Services for the provision of foster care services — unless CSS agreed to certify same-sex couples as foster parents — violated the First Amendment’s free exercise clause.

New York courts found the Fulton decision inapplicable. Then on June 16, 2025, the Supreme Court asked New York courts to reconsider the case in light of the Supreme Court’s June 5 ruling in Catholic Charities Bureau Inc. v. Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission, which affirmed that Catholic Charities could receive the same unemployment tax exemptions as other religious entities in Wisconsin.

“The Supreme Court has made it abundantly clear that religious groups shouldn’t be bullied for staying true to their faith,” Windham said in the statement. “We are glad that New York finally agreed to settle this case and protect religious objectors from discrimination.”

In 2019, the state of New York under Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Democratic-controlled Legislature expanded legal abortion even further throughout the third trimester.

In November 2024, New York voters approved what was called the Equal Protection of Law Amendment, which enshrines access to abortion in the state constitution.

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