“God is the only One who can give life, and God is the only One who can take life, and we have no authority over that,” Sandy Smith says. This is a belief she holds personally, and it is a belief held by Cedar Park, the church she grew up in and now serves as a worship leader.
It’s this belief in the value of life that was tested when she experienced an unexpected pregnancy as a teenager.
She and her boyfriend (now husband), Jay, were worried when they first found out Sandy was pregnant. Sandy took ten pregnancy tests, praying they were wrong, that they would change. Jay’s future in ministry seemed to be on the line. They had a choice to make, but to them, there wasn’t any debate. Supported by their church, Jay and Sandy chose to follow their belief that all life is given from God and has value at every stage.
Nine months later, they welcomed a beautiful daughter into the world.
Now, Jay and Sandy lovingly minister to others on the topic of life. “We want people to know there is a choice … to support life,” Jay says. That is why the couple has taken a stand for biblical truth and life against a Washington state law that would force them to fund abortions through their church’s health insurance.
Who are Jay and Sandy Smith?
Jay is the senior pastor at Cedar Park in Kirkland, Washington. Cedar Park believes life is valuable at all stages, and it embodies this conviction in various tangible ways. Jay explains, “Our church partners with a local pregnancy center and foster care providers, sponsors a camp for foster care children, and operates its own funeral home.”
Additionally, Jay says, “Each year, we host a special prayer service for couples struggling with infertility. We even encourage our members to adopt ‘snowflake’ babies – frozen embryos left over from in vitro fertilization.” Cedar Park is not a church that takes its pro-life convictions lightly.
Jay and Sandy’s personal experiences have shaped their pro-life and ministry views as well. Jay and Sandy met in the church nursery when they were three years old. As they grew up, Jay says they became “teenagers in love,” but unfortunately, “didn’t pay attention to some boundaries that [they] should have.” The couple was taken by surprise when Sandy found out she was pregnant in high school.
Sandy briefly considered abortion, but for her, it wasn’t an option. She knew that God gives all life, and her father, who also happened to be a pastor at Cedar Park, encouraged her that her baby was her responsibility and that she could care for it. Sandy and Jay also got married, something they had already been planning to do.
Jay had wanted to go into ministry, but in light of their surprise pregnancy, Jay did not feel fit. He thought, “There’s no way. Those aren’t the types of people God uses.” Jay talked to Sandy’s father, who was also his pastor. Sandy’s father showed Jay and Sandy grace and love. He told Jay that God uses imperfect people and that Jay shouldn’t limit how God might use the situation.
Jay describes his experience and how that shapes his approach to ministry: “I think the greatest thing that we can do to foster and encourage this culture of life is to just be kind to people… I just know how much it meant to us when people were kind to us when we felt like they shouldn’t be, when we felt like we should be judged. People were kind to us.”
Right after high school, Jay and Sandy got married and had their first of four daughters. Jay and Sandy treasure each of them as a blessing from the Lord.
So, when Jay—who had taken a pastoral position at Cedar Park—and Sandy found out that Washington state had passed a law that would require their church to pay for abortions, it felt like a slap in the face. They knew they had to do something about it.
Jay and Sandy’s church stands for life
Cedar Park Church, where Jay and Sandy grew up and now work, believes and teaches that every human life, whether born or unborn, is valuable, precious, and worthy of protection. But rather than respecting Cedar Park’s freedom to exercise its religious convictions, the state of Washington has gone out of its way to force pro-life churches to pay for abortions.
In early 2018, Washington state passed an act that forces Cedar Park to provide insurance coverage for abortion if the church also offers maternity care coverage to its employees. As a result, Cedar Park’s health insurer put abortion coverage directly into the church’s health plan. Failure to fund abortions through this insurance coverage could mean fines and criminal penalties, including jail time.
This is blatantly wrong. Churches have the freedom to set internal policies about the importance of life, from conception to natural death. Jay says the bill “would be compelling us to violate not just our conscience, but the rich tradition and history of our Christian faith.”
Cedar Park is not afraid to take a stand for what it believes.
“We’re not here to stage any kind of mutiny or demonstration,” Jay says, but “to advocate for what the Bible tells us as believers to advocate. If that puts us at odds with the leadership of our state,” he continues, it’s a conflict born of “supporting the Scriptures and supporting righteousness.”
Jay and Sandy are pro-life, no matter what Washington mandates
Jay and Sandy knew that their religious freedom was being violated, so they contacted Alliance Defending Freedom. In March 2019, ADF attorneys filed a lawsuit on Cedar Park’s behalf.
“We don’t want to have a part in funding or condoning or being a part of taking a life, especially of the unborn,” Jay says.
The church makes this clear. Cedar Park’s opposition to abortion and support for life are spelled out in its bylaws and the employee handbook. Jay explains, “Every one of our employees signs our statement of faith, upholding and defending the teachings of Scripture that tell us that life originates from God. We distinctly do not cover abortion because it’s the antithesis of who we are.”
The state of Washington is violating the First Amendment right to religious freedom by trying to require Cedar Park to pay for abortions. That’s why the church challenged the law in federal court.
Cedar Park’s years-long fight to protect religious freedom
Churches are protected by the First Amendment to operate according to their faith without being threatened by the government. Cedar Park’s insurer even indicated that it would remove abortion coverage mid-year if churches obtained an exemption from Washington’s abortion-coverage mandate. That exemption is what Cedar Park has been seeking in court for more than five years. Alliance Defending Freedom continues to stand with Jay, Sandy, and Cedar Park as they hold fast to their religious convictions.
ADF attorneys first filed a complaint in March 2019 on behalf of Cedar Park. A district court initially dismissed the case. After the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled that Cedar Park could challenge the Washington state abortion law, the district court again ruled against Cedar Park, upholding the law and requiring the church to violate its religious beliefs.
ADF attorneys appealed the ruling back to the 9th Circuit and argued before the circuit court in August 2024. After a split three-judge panel ruled against Cedar Park, ADF attorneys asked the full 9th Circuit to review the decision in April 2025.
Then, unexpectedly, the 9th Circuit panel withdrew its opinion against Cedar Park in July 2025 and stated that another oral argument would be scheduled to hear the case. That argument is now scheduled for January 2026.
No one should be forced to fund abortions against their religious beliefs. Will you give today to support Jay and Sandy Smith and others like them in their stand for life and for religious freedom?
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