Texas Abortionists Trying to Expand The Number of State-Funded Abortions

By Liz Townsend

The right of the state of Texas to limit the number of abortions paid for by taxpayer money is at the heart of a case heard by the Texas Supreme Court November 28. Currently, Texas pays only for those abortions approved by the federal Medicaid program, limited by the Hyde Amendment to rape, incest, and the life of the mother.

State senators and representatives signed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the supreme court to uphold the intent of legislators to restrict the types of abortions covered by the state. "Having failed to persuade the legislature to fund abortions, abortion advocates have now turned to the courts in an effort to subvert the democratic will," the brief states. "That effort should be resisted."

Texas abortionists, represented by the New York-based Center for Law and Reproductive Policy, first filed suit in 1993 in an attempt to overturn the law limiting tax-funded abortions, the Austin American-Statesman reported. They asserted that the law discriminates against women seeking "medically necessary" abortionsfor reasons of "health," which the U.S. Supreme Court has defined in very broad termsbecause men receive Medicaid funding for all procedures that are "medically necessary."

Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Boyd argued to the supreme court that the state's approach does not single out women for discrimination, according to the Dallas Morning News. Boyd added that the law reflects the legitimate choice of legislators to favor childbirth rather than abortion.

"What this is really about is whether the Texas Constitution requires the legislature to spend tax dollars on abortion," Boyd told the justices, according to the Morning News. "It's not women versus men."

State officials also asserted that Texas law is based on the federal Hyde Amendment, which was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1980. "The Hyde Amendment classifies on the basis of indigency, not sex," Attorney General John Cornyn wrote in a brief to the court, the American-Statesman reported. "It does not prohibit anyone from obtaining an abortion; it simply declines to pay for them."

A poll conducted in November found that most Texans oppose an expansion of the Medicaid abortion program, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. When asked, "Do you agree or disagree that the state government should pay for abortions for any woman who wants it and cannot afford to pay?" 69% said they disagreed and 23% agreed.

Last year, Texas paid for 11 abortions through its Medicaid program, matching federal funds according to the limits of the Hyde Amendment, the Morning News reported. If the pro-abortion groups are successful and the program is expanded to cover all abortions for the mother's "health," estimates are that the number would rise to the thousands. Pro-lifers in the state argued that this would in effect "amount to nothing more than abortion on demand paid for by taxpayers," according to the American- Statesman.

In 1998, state District Court Judge Paul Davis upheld the Medicaid limitations, but the Third Court of Appeals reversed his decision in December 2000, according to the San Antonio Express-News. The supreme court is not expected to make its decision until 2002.