A Choice for Women, Inc. v. Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (Florida, USA)
Florida’s Medicaid program provides all medically necessary services for men’s reproductive health, yet fails to provide a particular reproductive health service needed by women. The Center charged Florida’s Medicaid program with sex discrimination by preventing low-income women from obtaining funding for medically necessary abortions. The case, filed in state court, argues that the state unfairly forces poor women, and not poor men, to sacrifice their health and denies them critical medical care based solely on their gender. However, the courts have ignored the sex discrimination claim and upheld the ban as "rational," thereby allowing the state to continue violating women’s rights at the expense of their health.
Britell v. United States of America (U.S. Military/Massachusetts, USA)
In February 1994, Andrew Britell was on active duty as a Captain in the Air National Guard. Maureen, his wife who was covered under the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services ("CHAMPUS") policy available to military dependents, was approximately 20 weeks pregnant with their second child when her doctor diagnosed the fetus as anencephalic, a severe anomaly that is always fatal. After Britell made the difficult decision to terminate the pregnancy, CHAMPUS refused to cover the procedure. U.S. Federal District Judge Nancy Gertner ruled that the Department of Defense violated Maureen Britell’s right to equal protection under the Constitution by denying health insurance coverage for abortion services in cases of lethal fetal anomaly. However, the Federal Circuit reversed that victory, ruling that the refusal to fund is rationally related to the government's interest in potential life.
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