Challenge to abortion rules is filed

A state agency is accused of discriminating against poor women who need abortions for medical reasons.

By LUCY MORGAN

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 9, 2001

TALLAHASSEE -- A Miami woman and a women's clinic have filed a lawsuit against state officials in an attempt to overturn regulations that they say deny abortions under Medicaid to needy women.

The lawsuit, filed in Leon Circuit Court by the American Civil Liberties Union, accuses the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration of discriminating against poor women who need abortions for medical reasons.

Monica Navarrete, 29, the pregnant mother of two children, says she suffers epileptic seizures during pregnancy and has already given birth to one child who suffers from a rare bone disease that is often caused by Dilantin, the medication she has to take to control seizures.

Unless she terminates her pregnancy, Navarrete will have to choose between forgoing her antiseizure medication or allowing a child to be born with serious medical problems.

A Choice for Women, a Miami women's clinic, and Dr. Edward Watson, a physician who provides services at the clinic, also joined the lawsuit.

Watson and the clinic say the state routinely discriminates against women because it pays for services relating to men's reproductive health, including the provision of Viagra, but denies similar services to women.

Under state regulations Medicaid does not pay for abortions except when needed to save the life of the mother or when the pregnancy results from rape or incest.

Poor women often place themselves in greater medical risk by delaying abortions and suffer from higher costs as well as increased health risks, the suit alleges.

The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the federal law limiting the use of federal tax dollars. But a state can provide greater constitutional protections than the federal government, and Florida's Constitution includes language promising privacy and barring discrimination based on gender.

Elizabeth Hirst, a spokeswoman for Gov. Jeb Bush, said that "while a woman in Florida may have the right to choose to undergo an abortion, the state has no obligation to make funds available to her for this procedure."

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