Catholic Charities in California has been told by the California Supreme Court that they must offer prescription birth control through their employee health plan. I'm not Catholic; I'm not opposed to birth control. In fact, I think the Catholic Church is very wrong on this issue. But opposition to birth control is deeply imbedded in Catholic teaching. No one should have any doubt about where they stand. And if you choose to work for a part of the Catholic Church, you should expect to have your working conditions and benefits to be influenced by what the Catholic Church believes.
Posted by hboswell at March 1, 2004 04:40 PM | TrackBackIf I heard things right yesterday on PRM this decision is based off of the judges view that the charity in question wasn't a Catholic church and thus had no reason to be allowed to block the requirement to carry birth control coverage. They backed this view up with the fact that most of the employees aren't Catholic and that the job function it was doing is mostly secular. I believe there was only one dissenting judge who felt the others had gone 'too far' in their decision.
Posted by: Brian S at March 2, 2004 09:11 AMThis is a hugely bad precedent. In effect, they are saying that para-church organizations do not have protection of religious freedom. Where in the Constitution does it say that religious freedom only applies to recognized, incorporated churches?
The article suggests they should just drop prescription drugs from their plan, and that would get them around the problem. But this is patently unfair to their employees. They could dis-incorporate and come in under the direct supervision of a Catholic committee, giving them direct church status and satisfying the court's criteria, but I have a feeling this would jeopardize some of the ministries of both entities. (Probably for tax law reasons, if nothing else.)
Posted by: scott at March 3, 2004 10:00 AM