Christian organizations from multiple denominations have successfully challenged New York’s requirement that they fund abortions, marking a decisive legal victory after nearly a decade of battle.
In January 2017, then-Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a mandate requiring employers to cover “all medically necessary abortion services” alongside contraceptive drugs and devices. Cuomos Catholic faith led him to claim the policy would ensure women in New York received cost-free reproductive healthcare regardless of federal actions.
The law included a narrow religious exemption, but Christian groups ineligible for that protection—such as the Roman Catholic Dioceses of Albany and Ogdensburg, the Anglican Sisterhood of St. Mary, Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, and First Bible Baptist Church—sued the state. They argued the mandate violated the First Amendment’s free exercise clause and religious protections.
After years of setbacks, the Christian plaintiffs’ case was renewed in late 2021 when the U.S. Supreme Court vacated a ruling upholding the mandate, citing its decision in Fulton v. Philadelphia. The court later ordered New York to reconsider the case after its June 5 ruling in Catholic Charities Bureau, Inc. v. Wisconsin Labor, which found that denying religious entities tax exemptions based on theological differences violated the First Amendment.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor emphasized in her opinion that “when the government distinguishes among religions based on theological differences in their provision of services, it imposes a denominational preference that must satisfy the highest level of judicial scrutiny.” This precedent signaled significant risk for New York’s abortion mandate, which had similarly problematic religious exemptions.
On Friday, New York agreed to drop its effort to compel Christian groups to fund abortions. Lori Windham, senior counsel at Becket and attorney for the plaintiffs, stated: “For nearly a decade, New York bureaucrats tried to strong-arm nuns into paying for abortions because they serve all those in need. At long last, the state has given up its disgraceful campaign.”
The settlement recognizes specific religious entities—including the Roman Catholic Dioceses of Albany and Ogdensburg, Our Savior’s Lutheran Church of Albany, First Bible Baptist Church, St. Gregory the Great Roman Catholic Church Society of Amherst, Teresian House Nursing Home Company, Inc., Teresian House Housing Corporation, and Depaul Housing Management Corporation—as exempt from the mandate. The Sisterhood of Mary and the Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Brooklyn have also withdrawn their free exercise claims against the state.
