Landmark Decision Overturns Previous Ruling and Revisits Constitutional Protections
Planned Parenthood and Abortion Clinics Bring Forward Lawsuit
Medicaid Law Discriminates Against Poor Women, Says Lawsuit
Making a Distinction Between Women’s Choices
Lower Court Must Reconsider Differentiation Between Abortion and Carrying to Term
Funding Only Available for Women Who Carry to Term
Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court has issued a groundbreaking decision, demanding that a lower court revisits the constitutionality of a long-standing state law that restricts the use of Medicaid funds for abortion services. The 3-2 ruling overturns a previous dismissal of the case and sets aside a 1985 Supreme Court decision that upheld a law prohibiting the use of state Medicaid dollars for abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother’s life is at risk.
The majority opinion of the high court states that prior rulings failed to fully consider the wide-ranging constitutional protections against discrimination. The lawsuit, led by Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinic operators, argues that the 1982 law unfairly discriminates against low-income women.
Importantly, this new ruling does not establish a constitutional right to abortion in Pennsylvania, where the procedure is legal under state law up to 23 weeks of pregnancy. Instead, the focus is on whether the state Medicaid law unconstitutionally treats women who choose to carry to term differently from those seeking an abortion.
The lower court’s decision to dismiss the lawsuit relied on the previous Supreme Court ruling. The majority now demands that the lower court reassess whether Medicaid, also known as Medical Assistance, can legally distinguish “between pregnant women on Medical Assistance who would seek to obtain abortions and pregnant women on Medical Assistance who would seek to carry their pregnancies to term.”
According to the majority opinion, women who choose to have an abortion do not receive any government funding for their reproductive care, while those who carry to term receive full coverage.
This landmark decision by Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court brings renewed attention to the ongoing debate surrounding abortion rights and its intersection with healthcare access for low-income women.