High Court to Review Birth Control Ruling

The California Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to review an appeals court decision requiring a Catholic charity to include contraception in health plans that cover prescription drugs.

Without comment, the six justices voted in private to review the decision by the 3rd District Court of Appeal. Catholic Charities of Sacramento argued in a lawsuit filed in 2000 that the state law requiring employers to include contraception should be set aside as a violation of religious freedom.

But the appellate panel thought otherwise. The 1999 law “was enacted to eliminate discriminatory insurance practices that had undermined the health and economic well-being of women,” the appeals court said in July, and “does not advance or inhibit religion.”