In addition, the abortion providers stated, “The Pennsylvania coverage ban singles out and excludes women from exercising the fundamental right to terminate a pregnancy while covering procedures and health care related to pregnancy and childbirth.”
Furthermore, they reiterated that state law discriminates women because it prohibits them from exercising their fundamental right to choose to terminate a pregnancy. Thus, it violates the equal protection provisions of the Pennsylvania Constitution.
Petitioners are seeking a court declaration that abortion is a fundamental right
The abortion providers are requesting the court to declare that the state law limiting Medical Assistance for abortion and its implementing regulations unconstitutional. They are also seeking a declaration that abortion is a fundamental right under the Pennsylvania Constitution.
Attorneys from the Women’s Law Project are representing the abortion providers in the lawsuit.
In a statement, Susan J. Frietsche, senior staff attorney at the Women’s Law Project, commented, “Pennsylvania’s ban on Medicaid coverage of abortion is a decades-long injustice that deprives low-income women of reproductive health care…It inflicts severe harm on women because of their reproductive capacity, and it does so in service to discredited sex-role stereotypes that continue to limit women’s equal participation in society.”
