PA Court Backs Limits On Abortion Coverage

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Planned Parenthood and other operators of abortion clinics lost in court on Friday in their bid to reverse a decades-old Pennsylvania court decision upholding limits on the use of state Medicaid dollars to cover the cost of abortions. The plaintiffs will appeal to the state Supreme Court, the only state court that can repeal the limits on abortion coverage under Medicaid, said Susan Frietsche of the Women’s Law Project. The loss in the lower Commonwealth Court was expected, she said. A seven-judge panel of the Commonwealth Court ruled, with one dissent, both that the abortion clinic operators do not have standing to assert the constitutional rights of low-income women seeking an abortion and that it is bound by the high court’s 1985 decision in question. The state Supreme Court in 1985 upheld the 1982 law, which bans the use of state dollars for abortion, except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother. Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, supports abortion rights, but his administration nevertheless fought the case, as did Republican lawmakers who intervened. Wolf’s office declined comment, saying it was still reviewing the decision.