Landmark Ruling by the PA Supreme Court on the ERA and Reproductive Rights

This is noteworthy, especially because the Pennsylvania ERA has the exact same wording as the Federal ERA, now pending recognition by congress. 

Landmark Ruling by the PA Supreme Court on the ERA and Reproductive Rights

– On April 20, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court issued a landmark ruling for reproductive rights, striking down the state’s ban on Medicaid funding for abortion. The court held that the policy violates Pennsylvania Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and the equal protection provisions of the Pennsylvania Constitution.

The Pennsylvania Equal Rights Amendment, added to the state constitution in 1971, guarantees that equality of rights under the law “shall not be denied or abridged because of the sex of the individual.” The court relied on this provision to find that the state’s Medicaid abortion funding ban unlawfully discriminates against low-income people capable of pregnancy.

The decision came in Allegheny Reproductive Health Center v. Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, a case brought by abortion providers. The Women’s Law Project, which has worked tirelessly on this issue, calls it a “decisive victory for reproductive freedom in Pennsylvania.”