Jones Day partner Noel Francisco asked New York’s top court to remove a state regulation requiring group health insurers to offer medically necessary abortions to employees, in an appeal that stands to have broad implications on the division of religious freedoms and state oversight.

The partner-in-charge at Jones Day’s Washington, D.C., office, and former U.S. solicitor general, Francisco told the New York Court of Appeals on Tuesday that his clients, a coalition of religious employers, are undermined by the state’s interest in expanding abortion coverage.