MAHER V. ROE 432 U.S. 464 (1977) CASE BRIEF

MAHER V. ROE

432 U.S. 464 (1977)

NATURE OF THE CASE: This was a dispute over availability of Medicaid funds for first trimester abortions.

FACTS: Connecticut Welfare Department limited state Medicaid funds for first trimester abortions to those that are medically necessary. In order to obtain prior authorization for a first trimester abortion, the hospital or clinic must submit a certificate from the patient's physician stating that the abortion is medically necessary. Roe and Poe were two indigent women who were unable to obtain a physician's certificate of medical necessity. They challenged the regulation as violative of their constitutional rights, including the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantees of due process and equal protection. After certifying a class of women unable to obtain Medicaid assistance for abortions because of the regulation, the District Court held that the Social Security Act not only allowed state funding of nontherapeutic abortions, but also required it. On appeal, the Court of Appeals read the Social Security Act to allow, but not to require, state funding of such abortions. Upon remand for consideration of the constitutional issues raised in the complaint, a three-judge District Court was convened. That court invalidated the Connecticut regulation. It found no independent constitutional right to a state-financed abortion, but held that the Equal Protection Clause forbids the exclusion of nontherapeutic abortions from a state welfare program that generally subsidizes the medical expenses incident to pregnancy and childbirth. The District Court enjoined the State from requiring the certificate of medical necessity for Medicaid-funded abortions. The court also struck down the related requirements of prior written request by the pregnant woman and prior authorization by the Department of Social Services.

ISSUE:

RULE OF LAW:

HOLDING AND DECISION:

LEGAL ANALYSIS:

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