A Michigan judge has rejected a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union seeking to overturn the state's longtime ban on taxpayer funds for abortions, ABC News reported.
The lawsuit, filed by the ACLU and the law firm Goodwin Procter on behalf of YWCA Kalamazoo, argued that low-income residents should qualify for state-support abortions after voters in the state passed a constitutional amendment in 2022 enshrining abortion rights.
YWCA Kalamazoo, which provides financial support to people in southwest Michigan seeking abortions, also says that more than three-quarters of its clients would qualify for state support from Medicaid due to their income levels. Currently in Michigan, Medicaid provides coverage for abortions only if they are necessary to save a mother's life or if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.
Judge Brock Swartzle of the Michigan Court of Claims last week rejected the lawsuit, ruling that YWCA Kalamazoo did not have the legal right to mount this challenge.
"The YWCA is not an individual and it, as a nonprofit organization, does not have reproductive freedom," he wrote. "Further, the YWCA does not provide abortion care and is not directly affected by a law that denies funding for abortions."
He added, "Even if it could be considered 'someone' in a corporate sense, there is no allegation that it was penalized, prosecuted, or adversely acted against by the state."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.