The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights recently determined the state of California violated federal law by forcing all health insurance plans – including those purchased by churches – to pay for elective abortions.
Jack Hibbs is pastor of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, one of the churches that gave up its health plans as a result of what California was doing. On Monday, Pastor Hibbs talked about the ordeal on "Washington Watch with Tony Perkins."
"When that notice came to us from our health care provider, we immediately contacted mutual friends of ours … at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and said, 'Listen, I'm not going to do this,'" Hibbs recalled. "In that battle, 80 of our employees, including myself, lost our health care coverage because we could not receive offerings from the church family on Sunday and turn right around and designate portions of that gift to God to … slaughtering babies."
"To hear what President Trump did and said on Friday, just validated the fact that we not only stood our biblical convictions, but the Lord is using this particular administration to validate our position."
In a statement from Alliance Defending Freedom, attorney Denise Harle says no one should force a church or any other employer to participate in funding abortion.
"For years, California's Department of Managed Health Care has demonstrated hostility to churches by forcing them to pay for elective abortions," Harle continues. "The agency has unconstitutionally targeted religious organizations, repeatedly collaborated with pro-abortion advocates, and failed to follow the appropriate administrative procedures to institute its unprecedented mandate."
The legal group commends the Trump administration and HHS's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) for "investigating and taking corrective action against the state of California for its flawed policies, persistent violation of federal law, and its willful disregard for the civil rights and conscience rights of its citizens."
ADF explains that the federal Weldon Amendment prohibits states which receive federal funding from compelling healthcare plans to fund abortion:
"ADF has filed complaints with OCR against California's DMHC regarding its mandate and its violation of federal conscience law. When the previous administration failed to address the concerns raised in those complaints, ADF filed lawsuits on behalf of California churches forced to fund elective abortions. On Nov. 4, 2019, ADF attorneys argued Skyline Wesleyan Church v. California Department of Managed Health Care before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. In the lawsuit Foothill Church v. Rouillard, ADF attorneys representing three additional California churches have also appealed their case to the 9th Circuit."