California Churches Get MASSIVE Win In Court, Winning $1.4 Million After Pushing Back Against Abortion Mandate

California officials have had to agree to pay $1.4 million in legal fees to churches that pushed back against the state's hyper-liberal mandate that abortions were required to be covered in health insurance plans.

In the massive victory for pro-lifers in the otherwise child-mutilating state of California, attorneys with the nonprofit Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) resolved two lawsuits that involved four different churches that fought against the mandate, per the ADF’s announcement made on Friday.

“The government can’t force a church or any other religious employer to violate their faith and conscience by participating in funding abortion,” stated Jeremiah Galus, Senior Counsel for ADF, in the statement released. “For years, California officials, in collaboration with Planned Parenthood, have unconstitutionally targeted faith-based organizations. This is a significant victory for the churches we represent, the conscience rights of their members, and other religious organizations that shouldn’t be ordered by the government to violate some of their deepest faith convictions.”

The first suit was filed in 2015 and was done with the Foothill Church in Glendora, Calvary Chapel of Chino Hills in Chino, and Shepherd of the Hills Church in Porter Ranch, naming Mary Watanabe, director of the Department of Managed Health Care, as the defendant. The second suit was filed in 2016 by Skyline Wesleyan Church near San Diego, challenging the constitutionality of the mandate.

Back on February 2nd, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California found the state abortion-coverage mandate violated the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. Months later, on May 9th, the churches were offered an agreement that would have the Department of Managed Health Care paying each of the plaintiffs in the first case $500,000 in attorney fees by June 30th. 

Two days later on May 11th, the U.S. District for the Southern District of California passed a ruling in favor of Skyline Wesleyan Church that would once again require the Department of Managed Health Care to pay attorney fees by June 30th, but this time increasing the amount to $900,000.

The ruling gives a major win for Christians protecting their constitutional rights in the liberal-infested state of California. Regardless of the state's attempt to corrode the traditional values of Christianity, the Constitution stands as a roadblock in restricting citizens' rights to practice their religion. This ruling is a massive win for California churches and will show the government in Sacramento that attempts to force churches to go against their beliefs will only lead to consequences.