SAN FRANCISCO — Catholic Charities must include contraceptives in its employee prescription drug coverage, even though the church believes birth control is sinful, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday.
The 6-1 ruling came in a case that has been watched around the country as a contest between advocates of making contraceptives widely available to women and religious groups that have sought broad exemptions based on their faiths.
California is one of 20 states that require employers offering prescription drug benefits to also provide coverage for contraceptives. The state's law requiring coverage, passed in 1999, exempts churches. Catholic Charities argued that as an arm of the Roman Catholic Church, it should be exempt as well. The justices rejected that claim in a ruling that is expected to affect other religious employers, including hospitals and colleges, and influence courts in other states.
The law does not affect "internal church governance" Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar wrote for the majority. Rather, it affects "a nonprofit public benefit corporation and its employees, many of whom do not belong to the Catholic Church."
Justice Janice Rogers Brown was the sole dissenter, arguing that California's law defined religious employers too narrowly. The law exempts religious employers only if they primarily employ and serve people of their own faith and try to inculcate religious values.
"This is such a crabbed and restrictive view of religion that it would define the ministry of Jesus Christ as a secular activity," wrote Brown, whom President Bush has nominated for a federal appeals' court vacancy in Washington.
Monday's ruling in Catholic Charities vs. Superior Court was the first by a state high court to decide the constitutionality of such laws. A New York law that used California's as a model is under legal challenge, and religious groups have threatened to fight similar laws in other states.
In part because the law was viewed as a national test case, dozens of groups weighed in with briefs. Supporting the state were women's groups, civil libertarians, medical organizations and advocates for women's reproductive freedom. On the other side, several religious organizations, including religiously affiliated hospitals, supported the Catholic Church.
State Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer called the decision "a huge victory for working women in California."
