Medicaid now constitutionally covering abortion care under the PA Equal Rights Amendment

by Lilly Gioia

It’s a joy for me this morning to bring our congregation some really great news for a change. Last Monday the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania ruled that our state’s long ban on public funding for abortion care through Medicaid is unconstitutional! A 4-3 majority opinion ruled our state constitution under the PA Equal Right Amendment, enshrines a “fundamental right to reproductive autonomy” and that a ban on public funds for abortion is unconstitutional.”

Here in Pennsylvania, our courts have made this landmark decision to protect the right of pregnant women to CHOOSE to have an abortion. This truly has national implications.

Under the PENNSYLVANIA ABORTION CONTROL ACT OF 1982, public funds were forbidden for abortions with very limited exceptions. Seven years ago in 2019 a group of medical care providers filed a lawsuit, arguing this law effectively served as an abortion restriction on women in poverty. This case has been argued by the PA Women’s Law Project, a group our congregation recently donated to through our Sunday Contribution for a Cause. As a long-time member of our UU Justice PA Reproduction Justice Task Force and supporter of the Women’s Law Project, I can’t tell you how thrilled I was to open an email Friday that said:

"Dear Lilly,
It’s been a beautiful, uplifting week celebrating our victory with you and advocates across the country. This ruling’s majority opinion is a powerful recognition of reproductive autonomy as a fundamental right: 
Recognizing this fundamental right to reproductive autonomy ... is necessary to restrict state government to its proper sphere, thus protecting our liberty, Judge Matthew Wolf, a Democrat, wrote. “This will mean that the state will face judicial scrutiny of its attempts to coerce reproductive choice. THOSE CHOICES ARE THE PEOPLE’S, NOT THE GOVERNMENT’S.”

The Court found that denying Medicaid coverage of abortion care constituted
a “sex-based discrimination” that failed to hold up to legal scrutiny. The Women’s
Law Project case argued that “There is no comparable exclusion of any health
coverage – reproductive or otherwise – for men.”

Also, Medicaid coverage is provided for pregnancy and childbirth for women who carry a pregnancy to term, “but the Coverage Exclusion forbids coverage of abortion unless the mother would otherwise die or the pregnancy results from rape or incest.” The medical costs of coverage a pregnancy and childbirth far exceed the cost of an abortion.

Governor Shapiro welcomed this ruling saying, “I’ve long opposed this unconstitutional ban, and a governor, I did not defend it – because a woman’s ability to access reproductive care should never be determined by her income.”