Diocese of Albany v. Harris
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Case Snapshot
In 2017, New York state mandated that employers pay for abortions in their employee health insurance plans. That included churches, soup kitchens, and nuns. Following the order, a diverse coalition of religious groups that includes contemplative goat-herding Anglican nuns asked the New York state courts to protect them from this regulation that would force them to violate their deepest religious convictions about the sanctity of life. But the New York state courts refused. After asking the U.S. Supreme Court to protect the churches and ministries, the Justices asked the state courts to reconsider in light of Becket’s other landmark victory in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia. The New York courts refused to follow the Supreme Court’s guidance and again upheld the abortion mandate.
Represented by Becket and Jones Day, the religious groups once again asked the U.S. Supreme Court to step in and protect the right of their churches and ministries to teach and serve without being forced to fund abortions. Once again, the Supreme Court told the state courts to reconsider based on Becket’s next landmark victory in Catholic Charities Bureau v. Wisconsin. After two Supreme Court losses, the State of New York finally agreed that nuns did not need to pay for abortions.
Status
On January 16, 2026—after two trips to the Supreme Court and nearly a decade of fighting in court—the state of New York agreed to settle the case, protecting religious ministries from the state’s abortion mandate.
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Case Summary
Pushing the envelope beyond the contraceptive mandate
In 2011, the United States Department of Health and Human Services ordered employers to cover controversial contraceptives and abortifacients in their health care plans or face crippling fines. Immediately challenges were mounted by religious universities, Christian businesses and, most famously, by the Little Sisters of the Poor—an order of Catholic nuns who dedicate their lives to serving the elderly poor. Three times the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Little Sisters of the Poor, saying that if the government wanted to provide contraceptives and abortifacients, it could not force the nuns to help.
But in 2017, when the Little Sisters of the Poor were already two Supreme Court victories into their decade-long legal battle over the contraceptive mandate, the State of New York went a step further and required employers statewide to cover not just abortifacients, but even surgical abortions in their health plans.
New York initially planned to respect conscience rights by exempting employers with religious objections. But facing pressure from abortion activists, New York narrowed the exemption to protect only religious entities that primarily employ and serve people of their own faith. This discriminatory rule punished the many religious groups and ministries that provide critical community services and employ or serve people regardless of their faith.
Standing up for the right to stand aside
A coalition of religious groups from a variety of denominations—including Roman Catholic dioceses, an order of goat-herding Anglican nuns, Baptist and Lutheran churches, and Catholic ministries—sued New York, arguing that the law forced them to violate their deeply held religious beliefs about the sanctity of life.
Among the religious groups that challenged New York’s abortion mandate were a group of the Carmelite Sisters who run the Teresian Nursing Home for the elderly and dying; the First Bible Baptist Church, which serves the community through its youth ministry and a deaf ministry; the Sisterhood of St. Mary, an Anglican/Episcopal order of religious sisters who live a contemplative, monastic life; and subdivisions of Catholic Charities, which provide adoption and maternity services.
Each group challenged New York’s abortion mandate because it believes that life begins at the moment of conception, and that to intentionally end the life of an unborn child is a grave moral sin. However, unless they received protection in court, these orders, ministries, and churches would either have to violate their deepest religious convictions and provide abortions, or eliminate their employees’ health insurance altogether, which would subject them to crippling fines totaling millions of dollars per year.
Seeking relief from the High Court
Represented by Becket and Jones Day, the coalition of religious organizations asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its case. The Supreme Court granted the petition, vacated the bad rulings from the New York state courts, and told the state courts to reconsider the case in light of Becket’s other landmark victory in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia. The New York Court of Appeals reconsidered the case, but failed to protect the religious groups and again upheld the abortion mandate. On September 17, 2024, the decision was appealed to the Supreme Court.
On June 16, 2025, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the religious organizations fighting New York’s abortion mandate. The ruling ordered New York courts to reconsider the case in light of the unanimous Supreme Court decision in Catholic Charities Bureau v. Wisconsin Labor & Industry Review Commission. In that opinion, the Court made clear that that governments could not favor one religion over another based on religious beliefs or how they worship, proselytize, and perform charitable works. After the second Supreme Court loss, the state of New York settled the case.
Months later, the state of New York agreed to settle the case and drop its nearly decade-long effort to force religious groups to cover abortion procedures.
Importance to Religious Liberty:
- Religious communities: Religious communities have the right to organize and operate according to their beliefs without government discrimination.
- Individual freedom:Religious individuals and organizations are free to follow their faith in all aspects of their lives, including in the workplace and not just in houses of worship.