Divided 9th Circuit affirms Washington abortion-coverage and conscience laws against Cedar Park challenge

On September 14, 2026, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for Washington in Cedar Park Assembly of God of Kirkland, Washington v. Kuderer. Writing for the majority, Judge Susan P. Graber, joined by Judge Lucy H. Koh, held that the Reproductive Parity Act of 2018 and Washington’s conscience statute are neutral and generally applicable, so rational-basis review applies, and that Cedar Park’s Free Exercise claim therefore fails. The majority also held that the statutes do not violate the church-autonomy doctrine because they do not address employment at the church or internal church governance. The Parity Act requires health carriers that offer maternity coverage to include abortion coverage; the conscience statute lets an objecting employer decline to buy that coverage, while the carrier must tell enrollees how to obtain the services. Cedar Park, a church that objects to abortion on religious grounds, argued that the two laws together still force it to facilitate access. This brief records the panel’s holdings. It does not editorialize on abortion.

The same panel had, in a March 6, 2025 opinion later withdrawn on July 29, 2025, held that Cedar Park lacked standing. After the Supreme Court’s 2025 decision in Diamond Alternative Energy, LLC v. EPA, the Ninth Circuit vacated that opinion and reheard argument on January 8, 2026. In the September 14 opinion the panel held that, in light of Diamond, Cedar Park’s claim that the Parity Act caused it to facilitate abortion indirectly is enough for Article III standing. The district court had already found standing and granted summary judgment to Washington; the panel affirmed that judgment.

Judge Consuelo M. Callahan concurred that Cedar Park has standing and dissented on the merits. She wrote that the laws burden Cedar Park’s religious exercise, are neither neutral nor generally applicable, cannot survive strict scrutiny, and that she would reverse. Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Rory Gray, who argued for Cedar Park, told Reuters the church was disappointed and was reviewing its options. A spokesperson for Washington Attorney General Nick Brown’s office told Reuters the office was proud to defend state law. This brief records those attributed reactions. It does not treat the dissent as the holding.