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  • Title: Restrictions on Medicaid abortions open to challenge on state constitutional grounds.
    Author: Klassel D.
    Journal: Fam Plann Popul Rep; 1980 Dec; 9(6):95-8. PubMed ID: 12262416.
    Abstract:
    The United States Court (June 30, 1980) held in Harris v. McRae and Williams V. Zbaraz that the federal government and the states may refuse to pay for most abortions needed by Medicaid-eligible women without violating the Constitution. These decisions brought to an end litigation to establish a federal constitutional right to public aid for poor women in deciding whether to continue or terminate a pregnancy. Decisions of a state's highest court resting solely on state law grounds are usually not reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court, leaving each state free to curve out unique areas of rights and liberties for its population. Attention is directed here to the manner in which state courts may do so in the area of public funding for abortion with focus on the following: abortion and abortion funding under the federal constitution; challenging abortion restrictions on state constitutional grounds; establishing a state constitutional right to abortion; establishing denial of the right to abortion; justifying the interference; discrimination on the basis of wealth; and sex discrimination. The challenging of abortion funding restrictions on state constitutional grounds is a promising legal strategy for advocates of abortion rights. It has increased the chances for success in states that show a willingness to expand on federal constitutional law precedents: states that recognize principles of neutrality in granting government benefits or that provide special constitutional protection to the poor and to women.
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