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Advocates File Sex Discrimination Case on Behalf of Needy Women
Seeking Reproductive Health Care
October 6, 2001
TALLAHASSEE - Alleging separate and unequal medical treatment for women, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida and the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy (CRLP) filed a lawsuit charging Florida's Medicaid program with sex discrimination by preventing indigent women from obtaining Medicaid-funded abortions, while offering low-income men comprehensive coverage for reproductive health care.
The case, filed on Oct. 5 in Leon County Circuit Court, argues that the state unfairly forces poor women, and not poor men, to sacrifice their health and denies them critical medical care based solely on their gender. Judge P. Kevin Davey in the Circuit Court of the Second Judicial District will preside over the case, Women of the State of Florida v. Florida Agency for Health Care Administration.
"It's outrageous for the state to provide a full range of reproductive health services to eligible men, including coverage for Viagra, and yet turn around and deny similar health choices to poor women," said Howard Simon, ACLU of Florida Executive Director. "Rather than being truly neutral and applying state laws equally, regardless of gender, the state is setting a dangerous precedent by singling out poor women who seek medically-necessary abortion. "
Larry Spalding, of the ACLU of Florida, is co-counsel in the lawsuit along with Bonnie Scott Jones of the New York-based Reproductive Center for Law & Policy.
On July 12 2001, the Florida Supreme Court issued a ruling denying Medicaid coverage to indigent women seeking medically-necessary abortions. In that case, Renee B. et al., vs. the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that a state policy excluding medically-necessary abortions from Medicaid coverage did not violate women's rights, further burdening access to abortion services for indigent women. The state's High Court, however, refused to address the equal protection arguments alleging gender discrimination.
This case is one of numerous state constitutional challenges that have sought to protect the reproductive rights of thousands of needy women. In recent years, there have been several successful challenges to discriminatory abortion funding in New Mexico, Texas and Alaska.
- Click here to read the complaint.
