Opinion ID: 2034198
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: This Action

Text: Plaintiffs are 10 faith-based social service organizations that object to the contraceptive coverage mandate in the WHWA. Eight plaintiffs are affiliated in some way with the Roman Catholic Church: of these, three are large entities that provide a variety of social services, including immigrant resettlement programs, affordable housing programs, job development services, and domestic violence shelters; three primarily operate health care facilities, such as hospice centers, nursing homes and rehabilitative care facilities; and two operate schools. The other two plaintiffs are affiliated with the Baptist Bible Fellowship International: one of them offers a variety of social services to the public, including prison ministry, crisis pregnancy centers, job placement and homeless services; the other operates a K-12 school and provides day-care, preschool and youth services. None of the plaintiffs qualifies as a religious employer under the WHWA. This is essentially because plaintiffs are not, or are not only, churches ministering to the faithful, but are providers of social and educational services. Each of the plaintiffs asserts that its purpose is not, or is not only, the inculcation of religious values; most of the plaintiffs acknowledge that they employ many people not of their faiths; all of the plaintiffs serve people not of their faiths; and only three of the plaintiffs are exempt from filing tax returns under Internal Revenue Code (26 USC) § 6033 (a) (2) (A) (i) or (iii) (now § 6033 [a] [3] [A] [i] or [iii]), provisions applicable to churches and religious orders. Plaintiffs believe contraception to be sinful, and assert that the challenged provisions of the WHWA compel them to violate their religious tenets by financing conduct that they condemn. The sincerity of their beliefs, and the centrality of those beliefs to their faiths, are not in dispute. Contending that they are constitutionally entitled to be exempt from the provisions of the WHWA providing for coverage of contraceptives, plaintiffs brought this action against the Superintendent of Insurance, seeking a declaration that these portions of the WHWA are invalid, and an injunction against their enforcement. The complaint asserts broadly that the challenged provisions are unconstitutional, but plaintiffs do not argue that they are unenforceable as to employers having no religious objections to contraception; in substance, plaintiffs challenge the legislation as applied to them. Supreme Court rejected the challenge, and granted summary judgment dismissing plaintiffs' complaint and declaring the legislation valid. The Appellate Division affirmed, with two Justices dissenting. We now affirm.