Albany, USA - A midlevel appeals court on Thursday rejected a constitutional challenge by Roman Catholic groups to a New York law requiring employers to offer prescription contraceptives.
The law, which went into effect three years ago, requires employers offering prescription drug plans to provide coverage for contraceptives. Groups affiliated with the Catholic church, which opposes contraceptives, in December 2003 lost their suit in Supreme Court claiming the law intruded on the rights of some religious organizations.
They appealed, but lost in a 3-2 ruling by a panel of the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court.
Writing for the majority, Justice Thomas Mercure rejected claims that the law violates the plaintiffs' rights under either the state or federal constitution.
JoAnn Smith, CEO of Family Planning Advocates of New York State, was pleased with the decision.
"This important law promotes public health and helps to eliminate discrimination against women," she said.
The New York law does exempt churches, seminaries and other institutions with a mainly religious mission that primarily serve followers of that religion from complying with the prescription drug-coverage mandate. But groups such as Catholic Charities of Albany, which sought to overturn the law, were not exempted because their missions were not deemed to be religious.
Supporters of the law argued that doctors sometimes prescribe contraceptives to women for medical purposes not related to birth control, such as stabilizing a woman's menstrual cycle.
"We are very disappointed with the decision," said Dennis Poust, a spokesman for the New York State Catholic Conference. "The state is arbitrarily deciding which ministries are religious and which are secular. That's not the way the Catholic church is formulated. You can't separate the two. We don't do charity as a sideline."
Poust said the plaintiffs will appeal the decision to the state's highest court, the Court of Appeals, and to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.