Lawsuit Seeks to Protect Abortion Access for Low Income Women in Alaska

Groups Sue to Immediately Block New Regulation that Severely Restricts Abortion Coverage Through the State Medicaid Program

January 29, 2014

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: 212-549-2666, media@aclu.org

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and the Center for Reproductive Rights filed a lawsuit today on behalf of Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest in Alaska Superior Court challenging a new regulation that could severely restrict abortion access for low-income women.

The regulation seeks to circumvent a 2001 decision by the Alaska Supreme Court that the state must cover a full range of reproductive health care under the Medicaid program, including an abortion determined to be medically necessary by a woman’s physician. Instead, the regulation establishes criteria aimed at severely restricting the ability of low-income women to access medically needed abortion services.

“This extreme measure will have devastating consequences for low-income women,” said Brigitte Amiri, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project. “We hope the court will block this measure to ensure that low-income women are able to obtain the health care that they need.”

If allowed to stand, the regulations will go into effect on February 2 and will have immediate and irreversible consequences for Medicaid-eligible Alaskan women. The women impacted by this regulation are by definition, low-income, and for many of them, the denial of funding for an abortion will prevent them from obtaining medically necessary services, or cause delays that could be harmful to their health.

“Every Alaskan woman, regardless of income, should be able to make the pregnancy decision that’s best for herself and her family,” said Chris Charbonneau, CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest. “The Alaska Supreme Court has already ruled that women’s pregnancy decisions must be given equal protection under the law. Politicians and government officials in Juneau should not decide what is ‘medically necessary.’ That’s a private matter between a woman and her doctor.”

Despite strong constitutional protections for abortion coverage, politicians in Alaska have a long history of attempting to improperly restrict Medicaid coverage of abortion. This new regulation is yet another attempt to interfere with low-income women’s access to abortion services in the state.

“Women’s rights and access to reproductive health care are meaningless if bans on coverage keep high-quality, safe, legal services out of reach,” said Janet Crepps, senior counsel with the Center for Reproductive Rights. “The ability of women to obtain the care they need from medical professionals they trust must neither be interfered with by politicians nor dependent on their economic status or circumstances.”