California Supreme Court Forces Christian Groups to Fund Abortions: Killing a Baby is “Medically Necessary”

State   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Nov 21, 2019   |   8:56PM   |   Sacramento, CA

A California missionary organization suffered another defeat Wednesday against a state mandate that claims elective abortions that kill unborn babies are “medically necessary.”

Yahoo News reports the California Supreme Court refused to hear the lawsuit from the Missionary Guadalupanas of the Holy Spirit about a state mandate that forces it to cover elective abortions in its members’ health insurance plans.

Back in 2014, the California Department of Managed Health Care in 2014 decided that all abortions are “medically necessary” health care and must be covered in state-licensed health care service plans, or HMOs.

The Catholic charity sued the state, arguing that California bureaucrats did not hold a public hearing or public comment period before implementing the rule, as is required by law, according to the report. Its lawsuit notes that the abortion chain Planned Parenthood did get the opportunity to comment, unlike most California citizens.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the missionaries said the mandate would force them to pay premiums that could subsidize abortions for other people under the plan. They also said aborting an unborn baby is never “medically necessary,” except in rare circumstances when the mother’s life is at risk.

However, a state appeals court upheld the pro-abortion rule in August. Justice Coleman Blease argued that abortions are “medically necessary” because they are “one of two possible medically necessary procedures when the patient is pregnant.” He said childbirth and abortions are both “medically necessary to treat the condition of pregnancy.”

The state Department of Managed Health Care celebrated the ruling Wednesday in a statement.

Click Like if you are pro-life to like the LifeNews Facebook page!

“This is an important precedential decision for women’s health care rights, and we are pleased with the outcome,” the department said.

Though California citizens were not allowed the opportunity to comment on the oppressive abortion rule, one of the largest pro-abortion lobbying groups in the nation was.

As Yahoo News reports:

Planned Parenthood, … the nation’s largest abortion provider, met with state health regulators and urged adoption of the rule barring employer health plans that exclude abortion, as shown in emails between the agency and Planned Parenthood that were used as evidence in the missionaries’ lawsuit.

“California regulators appear to have deliberately ignored the deep moral and ethical objection to abortion held by so many in the state,” said Andrew Rivas, executive director of the California Catholic Conference. “Debate is healthy and should never be suppressed in this manner or any issue in which so many citizens feel so passionate about.”

The 2014 rule does not include religious exceptions for people who believe it is wrong to kill an innocent unborn child.

Pro-life groups like Alliance Defending Freedom and Life Legal Defense Foundation also slammed the rule and filed lawsuits against the state, but the mandate remains.

“Federal law prevents California from mandating that a health insurance plan include abortion coverage,” the Life Legal Defense Foundation, Alliance Defending Freedom and Cardinal Newman Society said in a letter to the state Department of Managed Health Care in 2014.

The Weldon amendment is a federal law that prohibits states from receiving federal funds for health, education and labor if it “subjects any … health care entity to discrimination” because the entity “does not provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for abortions.”

Since 2014, California also has expanded abortions by requiring that all public college campuses provide free abortion drugs to students up to 10 weeks of pregnancy. That mandate is slated to go into effect in 2023.