(TNS) — Abortion-rights advocates on Monday applauded a Pennsylvania Supreme Court reproductive rights decision as a step in removing barriers to abortion access in the state, while opponents held fast to their position that many taxpayers oppose any public funding for abortions.
The 3-2 decision, on a case involving Medicaid funding for abortion, was the first in Pennsylvania since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022 to address whether reproductive rights are protected under the state constitution, a position several justices indicated they could support.
“The rights of Pennsylvanians are due to all Pennsylvanians, not just those wealthy enough to afford them,” said Planned Parenthood PA Advocates executive director Signe Espinoza.
“Seeking essential health care should not be restricted based on your income bracket; 1 in 4 low-income women seeking an abortion are forced to carry unwanted pregnancies to term because of Medicaid coverage bans. Today’s ruling is the first step toward ending discriminatory access to care, and we remain committed to removing every barrier to abortion.”
In its 219-page ruling, the high court sent the case challenging the constitutionality of a decades-old state law that limits the use of Medicaid dollars to cover abortion costs, back to Commonwealth Court.
The decision sets aside a 1985 state Supreme Court court ruling that upheld a law banning the use of state Medicaid dollars for abortion, except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother.
Maria V. Gallagher, legislative director of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, an affiliate of National Right to Life, called the ruling highly complicated and concerning, saying depending on how the Commonwealth Court rules, it could lead to more abortions.
“We know that the vast majority of Pennsylvanians do not want to see their hard-earned tax dollars spent on abortion which is the taking of an innocent unrepeatable human life. Research clearly shows when taxpayer funding of abortion occurs, abortion total skyrocket,” Gallagher said.
According to Pennsylvania Department of Health in 2022 there were more than 34,000 abortions the state. “That’s truly alarming and we don’t want to see the abortion totals skyrocket in the commonwealth,” she said.
Abortion rights advocates, meanwhile, applaud the ruling in Allegheny Reproductive Health Center v. Pennsylvania Department of Human Services.
“The Court gave our clients an enormous victory this morning,” said Susan J. Frietsche, co-executive director of the Women’s Law Project.
Frietsche was among several attorneys who argued the case before the court . “We are still determining next steps, but we are confident the Medicaid abortion ban will be consigned to the scrapheap of history very soon,” she said.
Several justices indicated they were prepared to recognize abortion access as a right protected by the state’s constitution, noting the constitution “secures the fundamental right to reproductive autonomy, which includes a right to decide whether to have an abortion or to carry a pregnancy to term.”
“Whether or not to give birth is likely the most personal and consequential decision imaginable in the human experience. Any self-determination is dependent on the right to make that decision.”
“Even though a majority of the Court didn’t hold there is a fundamental right to abortion in Pennsylvania,” said David S. Cohen, constitutional law professor at Drexel Kline School of Law. “This issue will come back to the Court in the future, and we now have a great building block to accomplish that goal.”
The court decision comes just days after Democrats solidified their pledge to protect abortion rights in Pennsylvania ahead of the 2024 general election.
“I am grateful at this first step in the right direction in securing access for everybody to have abortion care regardless of their income or zip code or their job status,” said Sen. Amanda Cappelletti, a Montgomery-County Democrat and outspoken advocate for reproductive rights.
Pennsylvania law permits abortions up to 24 weeks with exceptions of rape, incest and life of the mother.
House Republican leader Bryan Cutler, R-Lancaster, said the ruling “eviscerates past precedent” on abortion law in Pennsylvania.
“Regardless of how one feels on the underlying subject matter, today’s decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is another activist decision that has the court seeking to overstep its authority and change well-settled law,” he said.
The conservative Pennsylvania Family Institute found the decision disappointing but not unexpected.
“The good news is that the abortion industry failed to receive a majority of the court ruling to invent a right to an abortion in our state’s Constitution,” said Jeremy Samek, an attorney for the group. “The bad news is three justices overruled the longstanding state law — upheld by seven members of the PA Supreme Court nearly 40 years ago — that prevents taxpayer funding of elective abortions.”
