11 States Found Not Funding Some Abortions

Eleven states are not complying with a law that requires Medicaid to pay for abortions for poor women who are victims of rape or incest, the Clinton Administration said Friday.

One state, Colorado, was ordered Thursday by a federal judge in Denver to pay for such abortions, and most of the other states are facing similar lawsuits brought by the Planned Parenthood Federation and other abortion rights groups.

Sally Richardson, director of the federal Medicaid bureau, said the government will send formal notices to the 11 states next week, initiating a process that could lead to the withholding of some Medicaid funds.

The other states are Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Utah.

Federal officials also said they had not heard from four states--Kansas, Missouri, New Hampshire and Ohio--as well as Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and American Samoa on their plans to comply.

Seven other states--Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Nebraska, Nevada and Oklahoma--were listed as taking action to comply.

The so-called Hyde Amendment since 1977 has barred use of federal funds to pay for most abortions, except to save the life of the mother. Last year, Congress added exceptions for rape or incest.

Some states, however, contend that their state laws or constitutions forbid paying for abortion under any other circumstances. They also argue that Congress only meant to allow states the option of covering rape and incest abortions, not that it be mandated.

In Denver, U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham ruled that under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, federal laws are binding even if they conflict with state laws.

Roger Evans, director of legislation for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in New York: “These states are going to fall like dominoes. The courts are going to rule one by one by one that these states have to comply.”

Pennsylvania, which was listed in compliance, has sued the government over its insistence that physicians should be able to waive a requirement that the rape or incest be reported to law enforcement authorities. Doctors are supposed to be able to waive the requirement if the woman was unable to tell the police “for physical or psychological reasons.”

Ray Hanley, the Arkansas Medicaid director who led a state protest against the mandate, said the noncompliance list would have been longer if officials had included states, like Pennsylvania, that object to the reporting waivers.

Richardson, the federal Medicaid chief, predicted the ruling in Colorado would prompt more states to comply with the law.