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From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues

Harris v. McRae (1980)

In Harris v. McRae, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Medicaid does not require states to pay for medically necessary abortions. The case resulted from passage of the Hyde Amendment of 1976, which prohibited the use of Medicaid funds to pay for abortions except to save the life of the mother or for victims of rape or incest. The constitutionality of the prohibition was challenged on the grounds that it violated the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment and the religion clauses of the First Amendment.

The Court found that the Hyde Amendment does not place governmental obstacles before a woman seeking an abortion and that a woman’s freedom of choice does not include a constitutional entitlement to financial resources to exercise her right. The statutory issue was whether the Medicaid Act requires a state to fund the cost of medically necessary abortions for which federal reimbursement is unavailable under the Hyde Amendment. The constitutional issue was whether the Hyde Amendment, by denying public funding for certain medically necessary abortions, interferes with the equal protection guarantees of the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment or the religion clauses of the First Amendment. The Court decided that the Hyde Amendment does not violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment, even though the funding restrictions reflect the religious tenets of the Roman Catholic Church.

See also: Abortion

References: Harris v. McRae, 448 U.S. 297 (1980).

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
"Harris V. McRae (1980)." From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues, edited by Suzanne O’Dea, Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Suffrage3e_0427.
APA 7th
Harris v. McRae (1980). From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues, In S. O’Dea (Ed.), Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Suffrage3e_0427.
CMOS 17th
"Harris V. McRae (1980)." From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues, Edited by Suzanne O’Dea. Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Suffrage3e_0427.