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Posted on 10/08/2024 11:05:19 PM PDT by Morgana
CV NEWS FEED // A district judge in Oregon ruled September 30 that Oregon Right to Life is required to cover abortions in its employees’ healthcare insurance plan, dismissing the pro-life organization’s argument that it is a religious organization exempted from the pro-abortion law.
U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken stated in her ruling that ORTL does not fit inside the category of “religious employer” under the state’s Reproductive Health Equity Act (RHEA), as it does not mainly or exclusively serve individuals of the same religion.
“Plaintiff does not qualify as a ‘religious employer’ under the RHEA because ‘its purpose is prolife advocacy, not inculcating religious values, and it doesn’t primarily serve persons sharing its religious tenets,’” Aiken wrote.
Aiken also stated that “Other than a fleeting reference to ‘Judeo-Christian ethics,’ there is nothing in the articles of incorporation that would suggest any religious element in [ORTL].”
ORTL filed the lawsuit against Oregon’s insurance commissioner in 2023 to challenge RHEA. The 2017 law requires employers to cover abortions and contraceptives in their healthcare plans with “extremely narrow” definitions for religious organizations that can obtain exemptions, Live Action reported.
ORTL and its legal representatives, Bopp Law Firm, opposed the ruling in a news release.
“This ruling will not dissuade ORTL from continuing to fight this unconstitutional Mandate — we plan to promptly appeal the decision,” said James Bopp Jr., counsel for ORTL. “In addition, we plan on asking the judge to put a hold on Oregon’s Mandate pending that appeal. We are confident the court of appeals will agree that the Mandate should be put on hold.”
ORTL executive director Lois Anderson called RHEA “clearly unconstitutional and unjust.”
“Regardless of where they stand on the abortion issue, I think most people would agree it’s absurd on its face to mandate that a pro-life organization pay for abortions — yet this is exactly what current Oregon law does,” she stated. “Because we’re committed to defending the vulnerable and pushing back against injustice, we’re not about to back down. We have an excellent legal team and the Constitution on our side, and I am confident we will prevail.”
Wait, so they can simultaneously claim that pro-life is EXCLUSIVELY a religious AND that pro-life advocacy isn't religious values? They make Schrödinger's cat look like an amateur.
This is how you know that the law is absurd.
Drop the employee health care plans and give them the money to get their own plan.
Ya, let’s keep murdering little babies!! .../sarc
Yeah, the Whole Foods grocery chain was doing that with all their employees before they sold to Bezos/Amazon...not sure if Amazon continued the policy. They got cash instead of coverage and HR provided some suggested independent health insurance agent contact info.. Employees could pick & choose the coverage they wanted. Only drawback I could see was no “group pricing”?
Her confirmation vote was 67 to 30, back in the days when anything over 20 against meant you were an effing Commie.
Or are women in charge? You know, the people most likely to say " im against abortion, but Im pregnant and see things differently,I've changed my mind"
Drop the coverage and reimburse employees who sign up for any of those religious health cost sharing cooperatives. THE END.
Your health insurance premiums are paying OTHERS to kill their children.
btt
Don’t offer Health Insurance to the employee’s, problem solved
Even better, don’t live in Oregon.
I can quit my job, take the Healthcare money and use it for something else, buy private insurance such as Healthcare ministries.
I'll do what I can to NOT support these types of things, but the problem is out of my hands.
MY THOUGHT ALSO.
GROUP PRICING evaporated years ago.
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