(WOMENSENEWS)–The Texas Supreme Court ruled recently that the state can refuse to pay for women’s medically necessary abortions.
Women with diabetes, heart disease, cancer and other conditions can experience severe complications as a result of pregnancy, making abortion medically necessary.
Texas refuses Medicaid payments for such abortions, paying for abortions only in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother’s life is in danger.
The case was decided 8-0, with one abstention, in a decision released on New Year’s Eve. The ruling reversed a 1998 appellate court decision that found that the Medicaid rule discriminated against women by holding them to a different standard than men.
“To deny poor pregnant women certain medically necessary health services while providing all medically necessary health services to men is illegal sex discrimination,” said Bonnie Scott Jones, an attorney for the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, according to the Associated Press.
For more information:
Center for Reproductive Law and Policy:
http://www.CRLP.org
