Judge rejects a challenge to Michigan's decades-long ban on publicly funded abortions

A judge has rejected a challenge to Michigan’s ban on taxpayer-funded abortions for low-income residents

DETROIT -- A judge has rejected a challenge to Michigan's longtime ban on taxpayer-funded abortions for low-income residents, saying a group that brought the lawsuit had no standing to file it.

Michigan voters in 2022 approved a sweeping constitutional amendment ensuring a right to abortion. But a ban on most taxpayer-funded abortions has been in place for decades, no matter which political party has controlled the Legislature or the governor’s office.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of YWCA Kalamazoo, which pays for abortions sought by women in southwestern Michigan. The group says more than 75% have incomes that would qualify them for state support if Medicaid-funded abortions were allowed.

Judge Brock Swartzle of the Michigan Court of Claims dismissed the lawsuit on July 3, saying YWCA Kalamazoo was the wrong party to bring a challenge.

“The YWCA is not an individual and it, as a nonprofit organization, does not have reproductive freedom,” the judge said in an 18-page opinion. “Further, the YWCA does not provide abortion care and is not directly affected by a law that denies funding for abortions.”

Michigan’s Medicaid program only pays for abortions to save a woman’s life or to end pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.

Abortion and related services are available through Medicaid in 17 states, according to the American Civil Liberties Union and the law firm Goodwin Procter, which both represent YWCA Kalamazoo.

A request for comment from the ACLU was not immediately answered Thursday.