Utah's ban on abortion coverage for low-income women challenged

On January 30 (1995) two women's health care providers, a rape crisis center, and a YWCA-run battered women's shelter asked the federal district court in Utah to declare invalid and enjoin enforcement of the state's virtual ban on abortion coverage for Medicaid-eligible women. The plaintiffs argue that Utah's criminal prohibition on state Medicaid coverage for abortion--except when the procedure is necessary to prevent a woman's death--violates federal Medicaid law because it does not cover abortions for survivors of rape or incest. The Hyde Amendment has provided federal Medicaid funds for abortions in cases of rape and incest since 1993, and federal courts have since ruled against eight other states that refused to cover those procedures. In late December, Utah was one of seven states notified by the federal Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) that the state is "out of compliance" with federal Medicaid law. With nearly 46 rapes per 100,000 people, Utah has one of the highest rates of rape in the country. CRLP (Center for Reproductive Law and Policy) has previously filed lawsuits in Utah challenging the state's 1991 abortion ban and a 1993 mandatory delay and biased counseling requirement. Plaintiffs in Utah Women's Clinic v. Graham are represented by CRLP's Eve Gartner, with Salt Lake City attorneys Howard Lundgren and Jeffrey Oritt.