Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
Gov. Josh Shapiro<\/a>\u2019s administration can pay for abortions through the state\u2019s Medicaid program while an appeal of the April ruling that recognized \u201ca fundamental right to reproductive autonomy<\/a>\u201d plays out, a Commonwealth Court judge ruled.<\/p>\n Judge Matthew S. Wolf last week granted a request from abortion providers to allow Medicaid to fund the procedure during the appeal from the state Attorney General\u2019s Office because the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held previously<\/a> that the funding restriction was \u201cpresumptively unconstitutional.\u201d <\/p>\n The Philadelphia Democrat wrote the April majority opinion that struck down a decades-old state law limiting public funding for abortions<\/a> to cases involving rape, incest, or danger to the life of the mother.<\/p>\n Attorney General Dave Sunday<\/a> appealed the ruling to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court<\/a>, where three justices previously signaled their willingness to rule that abortion access is a right<\/a>.<\/p>\n The appeal led to an automatic stay on the Commonwealth Court ruling, which meant Medicaid could fund abortion only in the cases allowed by the state\u2019s Abortion Control Act. <\/p>\n The coalition of abortion providers that brought the lawsuit in 2019 argued the stay would cause irreparable harm, because it would force \u201can unknown number of their patients to carry pregnancies to term\u201d during the appeal, the opinion said. <\/p>\n If the coverage ban were to remain in place, despite the ruling holding it amounts to sex-based discrimination and recognizing the right to reproductive autonomy, that would violate the constitutional rights of Pennsylvanians, Wolf wrote. <\/p>\n Sunday\u2019s office argued that lifting the stay would allow more abortions, despite the opposition of many taxpayers. <\/p>\n \u201cThere can be no legitimate interest \u2014 for the Commonwealth or the public \u2014 in knowingly violating constitutional rights,” Wolf said, rejecting the attorney general\u2019s argument. <\/p>\n A spokesperson for Sunday declined to comment. <\/p>\n \u201cAt last, a terrible injustice that has harmed Pennsylvanians for decades has ended,\u201d Susan Frietsche, executive director of Women\u2019s Law Project, which represented the providers, said in a statement. <\/p>\n Sunday, a Republican, stepped in to defend the law when Shapiro\u2019s administration bowed out after the 2024 state Supreme Court ruling that used language strongly endorsing abortion access as a constitutional right. But the state high court justices were ultimately split on whether they were ready to make that call, and sent the case back to the Commonwealth Court. <\/p>\n