ACLU, abortion providers sue Maine over Medicaid access
Source: Bangor Daily News
AUGUSTA, Maine — Abortion providers and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the state on Tuesday in a bid to overturn a longstanding rule limiting low-income women’s access to a state-funded abortion.
It’s buried deep within a set of rules developed in 1981 and last revised in 2010, before Gov. Paul LePage took office. However, it could set up a politically charged court fight with the anti-abortion Republican and his administration.
The lawsuit against the Maine Department of Health and Human Services was filed Tuesday morning in Cumberland County Superior Court on behalf of the state’s three abortion providers, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, Mabel Wadsworth Women’s Health Center in Bangor and Maine Family Planning in Augusta.
The challenged rule only allows women enrolled in MaineCare — the state’s version of Medicaid, the federal-state health care program for low-income people — to have an abortion paid for by MaineCare in cases of rape, incest and if their life is in danger.
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Read more: http://bangordailynews.com/2015/11/24/politics/aclu-abortion-providers-sue-maine-over-medicaid-access/
