High court rejects Moore, California appeals

By Tom Strode - Oct 15, 2004 - comment

The Supreme Court has ended the legal hopes of a Roman Catholic social services agency, a former Alabama chief justice and three women challenging the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

In orders released in October, the high court announced it would not review:

  • A California Supreme Court ruling that requires Catholic Charities of Sacramento to provide prescription drug coverage for contraceptives;
  • An Alabama judicial panel’s decision to remove Roy Moore as the state supreme court’s chief justice, and
  • A California high court opinion that Planned Parenthood does not have to provide information connecting abortion to breast cancer.

The California high court ruled in a 6-1 March opinion the state’s Women’s Contraception Equality Act does not infringe upon the religious rights of the Catholic agency. The 1999 state law requires some health insurance plans that cover prescription drugs to provide for contraceptives.

Catholic Charities, which abides by the Catholic Church’s teaching that the use of artificial birth control is sinful, contended the WCEA violates the free exercise of religion and church-state establishment clauses of both the United States and California constitutions. Though the law has a religious exemption, the justices ruled Catholic Charities did not meet the requirements for a “religious employer.”

Moore became well known for placing a 5,300-pound, granite monument that included the Ten Commandments in Alabama’s judicial building while he was chief justice of the state supreme court. When he refused to obey a federal judge’s order to remove the monument, action to oust Moore from his position ensued. The Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission removed Moore from office in November 2003, ruling he had violated the state’s code of judicial ethics by failing to move the display at the order of the judge.

Agnes Bernardo and two other Californians had asked a court to require Planned Parenthood to inform its abortion clients there is medical evidence of a link between abortion and breast cancer. The court dismissed the suit and ordered the women to pay more than $77,000 in fees for Planned Parenthood’s attorneys. A California appeals court and the state’s high court upheld the decision.

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