Pennsylvania case challenging ban on Medicaid abortions back in court
The Guardian, US
Pennsylvania’s supreme court ruled on Monday that a lower court must hear a case challenging a ban on the use of government-funded healthcare to pay for abortions, raising hopes among reproductive rights advocates for an expansion of abortion access in the state and the establishment of a constitutional right to the procedure.
The case, brought by abortion providers in the state, challenged a decades-old state law barring Medicaid from covering abortions, arguing that it should be overturned because it violates the broader rights guaranteed by the state constitution’s Equal Rights Amendment.
Monday’s 3-2 ruling both overturns a lower court decision to dismiss the case and puts aside a 1985 state supreme court court decision that upheld the law banning the use of state Medicaid dollars for abortion, except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother.
