Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court strikes down ban on Medicaid for abortion

The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania on Monday ruled 4-3 that the state’s ban on public funds for abortion care is unconstitutional.

A subsection of the Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act of 1982 prevented the use of public funds from programs such as Medicaid on abortion, with limited exceptions. In 2019, a group of medical care providers filed a petition challenging the coverage exclusion.

After a lengthy court battle, a split Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania found that the law violates the Equal Rights Amendment of the Pennsylvania Constitution.

“The Commonwealth Court today recognizes that the guarantees of equality in our state Constitution would be a hollow promise if women and birthing people did not possess the ability to control their destiny,” said Susan Frietsche, executive director of Women’s Law Project and a lead litigator on the case, in a release. “Today, the Court recognizes that the right to reproductive autonomy is the right to self-determination.”

In the majority opinion, Judge Matthew S. Wolf, a Democrat, wrote that the Equal Rights Amendment “guarantees a fundamental right to reproductive autonomy.” Wolf was joined by Democrats Michael Wojcik and Lori A. Dumas, as well as Republican Judge Renée Cohn Jubelirer.

“Recognizing the fundamental right to reproductive autonomy is an initial analytical step, but it then requires the proper level of scrutiny be applied to the governmental action,” Wolf wrote in the majority.

Republicans Patricia A. McCullough, Anne E. Covey and Stacy Wallace accused the majority of green-lighting “abortions on-demand sought by Medical Assistance recipients.”

“I simply cannot recall another case in which this Court has decided issues of such profound public importance in this kind of summary, we-believe-you-if-you-say-so fashion that does anything but give ‘full notice to the bench, bar, and public,’” McCullough wrote in the dissent.

Gov. Josh Shapiro supported the ruling in a post on X.

“I’ve long opposed this unconstitutional ban, and as Governor, I did not defend it — because a woman’s ability to access reproductive care should never be determined by her income,” Shapiro said.