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Religious groups must offer employees birth control: US Court

Section: Religion

Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Supreme Court rejected Monday a bid by Roman Catholic and Baptist groups to stop offering their employees birth-control benefits as part of their health insurance.

The case hinged on the organizations' right to place their own beliefs at the center of their employment practices, offering a new battle ground over the age-old state versus religion debate at the start of the court's new year.

The top court rejected a petition by the groups arguing that by being forced to offer contraception pills and equipment on their employee health-insurance plans, their First Amendment rights to free speech were violated.

The petition sought to overturn a New York state law that mandated that all employees of religious groups must have access to birth-control measures as part of their employer-provided health insurance.

The Catholic Church teaches that contraception is "intrinsically evil," eight Catholic organizations backed by a Baptist church had argued in their petition.

"In keeping with this teaching, church entities cannot facilitate or promote, directly or indirectly, the practice of contraception," they said.

The Supreme Court did not publish an explanation of its decision against the petition, which had also been supported by Orthodox Jewish and other religious groups in a brief to the court.

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