Oregon Right to Life sues state over mandate that it cover abortion in its health insurance plan

SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Oregon Right to Life sued a state agency Tuesday for relief from the state’s requirement that it provide coverage in its employee health insurance plan for abortion.

The organization claims the mandate violates ORTL’s religious liberty, protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The federal lawsuit names the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services and DCBS Director and Oregon Insurance Commissioner Andrew Stolfi as defendants.

The mandate was enacted in 2017 as the Reproductive Health Equity Act. It is like California’s abortion-coverage mandate. Federal courts recently held that California’s mandate violates the religious liberty of objecting churches under the Supreme Court’s Fulton v. City of Philadelphia (2021) decision, ORTL said.

ORTL likewise challenges Oregon’s Mandate under Fulton’s analysis. Under Fulton, if the government allows exceptions to laws burdening religious belief, the government must show a “compelling” reason for not also allowing exceptions for religious objectors. In Fulton and the California church cases, the courts held that there was no compelling reason to deny exceptions for the religious objectors.

“As a pro-life organization, no one questions that we hold deep moral objections to abortion,” said ORTL Executive Director Lois Anderson. “We are only asking for what every American expects, to be free to live according to our conscience and operate our organization according to our sincerely held belief that unborn human beings deserve protection from the violence of abortion.”

Because Oregon’s Mandate allows exceptions, ORTL says Oregon must prove a compelling reason for not allowing an exception. But the courts have already rejected the reasons Oregon might assert as not compelling. For example, because ORTL’s employees agree with ORTL’s beliefs, Oregon has no compelling reason to require coverage since the employees don’t want it. So ORTL should get an exception.

James Bopp, Jr., of The Bopp Law Firm, PC, and counsel for ORTL, says: “Forcing pro-life Oregon Right to Life to fund abortion insurance is outrageous. Legislative testimony made ORTL and its opposition known to the legislature, but it didn’t care. Fortunately, the First Amendment protects ORTL. ORTL should get an exception from Oregon’s abortion-insurance mandate just as California churches recently got one from California’s abortion-insurance mandate.”

The Complaint is available here.