Maine Abortion Providers Appeal MaineCare Case to Law Court
Ban on Abortion Coverage Violates Constitution and Hurts Maine Women
PORTLAND – The ACLU, Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and Maine abortion providers have appealed a judge’s ruling against their challenge to MaineCare’s ban on insurance coverage for abortion. The case was brought on behalf of Mabel Wadsworth Center, Maine Family Planning and Planned Parenthood of Northern New England.
The nonprofit health care providers provide reproductive and sexual health care, including abortion, to 21,500 Mainers each year, more than half of them low-income.
The lawsuit, filed in 2015 in Cumberland County Superior Court by lawyers from the ACLU of Maine, national ACLU and PPFA, argues that the ban violates the Maine Constitution and state statutes. In October 2017 the Superior Court granted summary judgment to the defendant, Commissioner Ricker Hamilton of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.
The appeal brief was filed Friday in the Maine Supreme Judicial Court sitting as the Law Court.
The brief and other information about the case is here: https://www.aclumaine.org/en/cases/mabel-wadsworth-womens-health-center-et-al-v-ricker-hamilton
A statement about the decision to appeal is here: https://www.aclumaine.org/en/press-releases/aclu-and-maine-abortion-providers-appeal-judges-denial-challenge-maine-medicaid
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