Sidestepping a sex bias claim, appellate judges say Florida has an interest in protecting life and containing costs.
By Associated Press
Published September 4, 2003
MIAMI - Florida can ban Medicaid payments for medically necessary abortions even though it pays for poor men's Viagra and vasectomies, an appeals court ruled Wednesday.
Abortion rights advocates argued in June that state rules discriminate against women, but the 3rd District Court of Appeal decided the state has legitimate and rational interests in protecting life and containing health care costs. The Miami court found no special protection for women seeking abortions under a 1988 equal-rights amendment to the state Constitution.
The rules against abortion funding are "rationally related to the legitimate government objective of protecting potential life," and Florida is allowed to limit services to contain Medicaid costs, said the unsigned opinion from a three-judge panel.
"As far as I can tell, they never addressed our sex discrimination claim, which is really quite remarkable," said Bonnie Jones of the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York. She argued the appeal for an epileptic woman denied abortion funding, her doctor and his clinic.
The state does not "have an interest in promoting childbirth over the health of the women," she said.
Lynda Bell, spokeswoman for Florida Right to Life, said the decision was "wonderful" news. "Nobody wants their taxpayer dollars to go toward the killing of unborn children," she said.
The state Agency for Health Care Administration defended its rules, denying there was any gender discrimination and saying the policy is based solely on the availability of federal matching funds. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a congressional ban on federal funding for abortions in 1980.
The court did not directly address Jones' arguments that the costs of childbirth and special prenatal services for women with epilepsy, diabetes and other conditions outweigh the potential cost of Medicaid-funded abortions.
Seventeen states now fund all medically necessary abortions, and many states go beyond the federal funding restrictions imposed by the federal Hyde amendment in 1976.
The federal measure limits funds for abortions to cases of rape, incest and to save a woman's life.
