In an order issued yesterday, Marion Superior Court Judge Susan Macey Thompson ruled Indiana's near-ban on Medicaid coverage for low-income women's abortions unconstitutional. Judge Thompson agreed with the Center for Reproductive Rights' contention that when the state chooses to provide funding for abortion to preserve the life of the mother or in cases of rape or incest, it must also provide funding for medically necessary abortions.
"The current Medicaid funding scheme allows the State to substitute its judgment for that of learned medical professionals in an effort to promote a particular moral agenda that disfavors abortion," wrote Judge Thompson in the decision. "This contravenes the Indiana Constitution and specifically violates the privileges and immunities clause."
With this case, fifteen out of twenty-one state courts that have considered near-bans on abortion funding like Indiana's have determined that states must provide coverage for all medically necessary abortions. The Center for Reproductive Rights recently won a challenge to the state of Arizona's near-ban on abortion coverage for low-income women.
"We are very pleased with the judge's decision which recognizes that it is unconstitutional to discriminate against low-income women," said Brigitte Amiri, fellowship attorney with the Center for Reproductive Rights. "Medicaid-eligible women will now be able to get the medically necessary care they need to protect their health."
There are many reasons why abortions can be medically necessary for women. Women with preexisting health conditions including heart disease, diabetes, and epilepsy may endanger their health if they carry their pregnancy to term. Other women must take medications or receive treatments such as chemotherapy, which pose a risk to the fetus, forcing the woman to endanger her health or her fetus' health if she continues her pregnancy.
Plaintiffs in Clinic for Women. v. Humphreys include Clinic for Women, Inc., Women's Pavilion, Inc., Ulrich G. Klopfer, D.O., and Martin Haskell, M.D. They are represented by Brigitte Amiri and Bebe Anderson from the Center for Reproductive Rights, along with cooperating counsel Mary Hoeller of White and Raub.
