The California Supreme Court has ruled that a Catholic charity must offer birth-control coverage to its employees despite the Church's ban on artificial birth control.
Experts said the ruling could affect thousands of workers at Catholic hospitals and other church-backed institutions in California and prompt other states to introduce similar laws.
California is one of 20 states to require that all company-provided health plans must include contraception coverage if the plans have prescription drug benefits.
The high court said that Catholic charities were no different from other businesses in California, where "religious employers" such as churches are exempt from the requirement. Catholic Charities argued that it, too, should be exempt.
But the Supreme Court in Los Angeles ruled that the charity was not a religious employer because it offered such secular services as counselling, low-income housing and immigration services to people of all faiths, without directly preaching Catholic values.
In fact, Justice Kathryn Werdegar wrote that a "significant majority" of the people served by the charity were not Catholic. The court also noted that the charity employed workers of differing religions.
The California Catholic Conference, which represents the church's policy position in the state, said it was disappointed with the ruling. "It shows no respect to our religious organisations," said a spokeswoman.
PA