A federal appellate court has reinstated a challenge from pro-life organizations and a church against a New York law that prevents faith-based employers from taking action against employees who have abortions.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in an opinion released on Thursday, sided with the pro-life pregnancy care center network CompassCare, the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, and First Bible Baptist Church in their lawsuit against state officials.
The relevant portion of New York Labor Law Section 203-e prohibits employers from engaging in “discrimination based on an employee's or a dependent's reproductive health decision making.”
Although the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York had previously dismissed the plaintiffs' claim that the law violated the faith-based employers' rights to expressive association under the First Amendment, the 2nd Circuit ruled that the claim had merit and that the lawsuit could proceed.
This ruling follows a previous decision made in 2023 in the case of “Slattery v. Hochul,” where the 2nd Circuit reversed a lower court's dismissal related to the Evergreen Association, a pro-life pregnancy center.
The court noted, “The District Court did not have the benefit of the Slattery opinion — which is now binding precedent — when it issued the orders challenged in this matter,” Judge Sarah Merriam wrote in Thursday's opinion. “In light of Slattery, we vacate the dismissal of Plaintiffs' expressive-association claim.”
The law in question prohibits employers from “accessing an employee's personal information regarding the employee's ... reproductive health decision making, including but not limited to, the decision to use or access a particular drug, device or medical service,” according to the court’s opinion.
All three plaintiff organizations require their employees to adhere to statements of faith denouncing abortion, considering this adherence central to their mission.
In Slattery, the 2nd Circuit determined that the plaintiff may have a valid claim against the law if it can prove that “the statute forces Evergreen to employ individuals who act or have acted against the very mission of its organization.”
Alliance Defending Freedom, the legal organization representing the plaintiffs, argues that the law requires “employers — including churches, religious schools, faith-based pregnancy care centers, and religious nonprofits — to undermine their own beliefs about abortion, contraception, and sexual morality by forcing them to employ those who cannot effectively convey the groups' message because they refuse to abide by the organizations' statements of faith and core principles about such issues.”
ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot praised the court's decision, stating, “Our nation has long respected the rights of religious organizations to associate with like-minded believers, and the court's decision rightly reinstates our clients' claim seeking to affirm that this right protects employment practices affecting the groups' mission.”
He added, “Religious employers are free to hire individuals who share their core beliefs, and no government can force faith-based organizations to contradict those convictions. The 2nd Circuit was right to revive this challenge, allowing our clients to defend their constitutionally protected freedom to join with others and express what they believe without fear of government punishment or coercion.”
