Pennsylvania Court Strikes Down Medicaid Abortion Ban

Pennsylvania's Commonwealth Court ruled 4-3 on April 20, 2026, that the state's longstanding ban on using Medicaid funds to cover abortion care is unconstitutional, recognizing a fundamental right to reproductive autonomy under the Pennsylvania Constitution.

The decision, stemming from a 2019 lawsuit filed by seven abortion providers including Planned Parenthood affiliates and the Allegheny Reproductive Health Center, strikes down a 1982 law that prohibited public insurance from paying for abortions except in cases of rape, incest or when the mother's life is at risk. The providers argued the policy violates the state's Equal Rights Amendment and equal protection clauses by creating a sex-based distinction that limits low-income women's access to care without similar restrictions on men's reproductive health services.

In the majority opinion, Judge Matthew Wolf, a Democrat, wrote that the coverage exclusion fails to operate neutrally on a person's exercise of reproductive rights. "Those choices are the People's, not the government's," Wolf stated. He was joined by Republican President Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer and Democrats Michael Wojcik and Lori Dumas. The court held that the...