Overview
- Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court, which ruled Monday in a 4–3 decision, struck down the state’s decades-old bar on using Medicaid funds for most abortions and recognized a fundamental right to reproductive autonomy under the state constitution.
- The majority opinion, written by Judge Matthew Wolf, concluded the Medicaid exclusion violates the state Equal Rights Amendment, while Judge Patricia McCullough authored a dissent joined by two colleagues.
- The ruling strikes a 1982 law that blocked state Medicaid dollars for most abortions, a shift that could open coverage for low-income patients because federal Medicaid pays only in cases of rape, incest, or danger to the woman’s life.
- Gov. Josh Shapiro praised the outcome after declining to defend the law, and Attorney General David Sunday, who argued to keep the ban, said his office is reviewing the decision with a possible appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
- The lawsuit was filed by abortion providers in 2019 and returned to the lower court after a 2024 state Supreme Court directive to apply strict scrutiny under the Equal Rights Amendment, marking the first time Pennsylvania’s constitution has been found to protect abortion rights.