Abortion Fight Enters New Phase in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania’s decades-long fight over abortion access has entered a new phase this week after the state’s Republican attorney general formally appealed a court ruling that struck down a ban on Medicaid‑funded abortions and declared abortion a constitutional right under state law.
Attorney General Dave Sunday filed the appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday, asking it to overturn last month’s decision by the Commonwealth Court that invalidated the state’s decades-old restrictions on using Medicaid funds for abortion care.
The appeal sets up a high‑stakes legal battle over whether the Pennsylvania Constitution not only protects the right to an abortion but also requires the state to ensure that low‑income residents can access the procedure via Medicaid coverage. The case, which now heads back to higher courts, could have sweeping implications for abortion policy in Pennsylvania and add to a growing wave of post‑Roe litigation, testing how far state constitutional protections extend.
The Attorney General’s Appeal
Sunday told Newsweek: “Per the Commonwealth Attorneys Act, the Office of Attorney General has a statutory obligation to defend the Commonwealth’s laws, and our notice of appeal fulfills that duty with regards to this statute. My responsibility as Attorney General is to defend the rule of law and defend statutes without interference of personal opinion or political posturing.”
Sunday’s filing asks the state’s top court to review the lower court’s conclusions that the Medicaid funding ban is unconstitutional and that abortion is a fundamental right under Pennsylvania’s constitution.
Abortion remains legal in Pennsylvania through 23 weeks of pregnancy, but without Medicaid coverage, cost has become a significant barrier for low-income patients.
Abortion rights advocates have expressed outrage over the appeal. Signe Espinoza, the executive director of Planned Parenthood PA Advocates, accused Sunday of playing “politics with abortion care.”
She added, “Defending discrimination in our state constitution is not only cruel; it goes against what the majority of Pennsylvanians want and what our courts have decided.” Newsweek has contacted the Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates for comment via email.
“We are more than ready to continue fighting for the equality rights Pennsylvanians explicitly voted to enact,” said Elizabeth Lester-Abdalla, a staff attorney for the Women’s Law Project.
Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro said in 2024 that his administration would no longer defend the prohibition in the commonwealth’s Abortion Control Act, saying the measure was a “direct attack on women’s health care and their ability to make decisions about their own bodies.”
In light of the update, Shapiro’s spokesperson Rosie Lapowsky told Newsweek the governor “has long opposed this unconstitutional ban, and as Governor, he did not defend it-because a woman’s ability to access reproductive care should never be determined by her income. The Shapiro Administration will continue to fight to uphold the Commonwealth Court’s ruling.”
The Commonwealth Court’s Ruling
Sunday’s appeal follows an April 20 ruling by the Commonwealth Court that struck down Pennsylvania’s long-standing ban on Medicaid funding for most abortions, marking the first time that the right to an abortion was explicitly protected by the Pennsylvania Constitution.
The case has taken various turns over its decades-long history. In 2019, plaintiffs asked the court to order the state’s Medicaid program to begin covering abortions, without restriction, arguing that the 1982 Pennsylvania law restricting state Medicaid funding violated the constitutional equal protection rights of low-income women. Yet, a 2021 lower-court ruling determined the plaintiffs did not have standing and said they were bound by a state Supreme Court’s 1985 decision upholding the 1982 law.
However, in 2024, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned the lower court’s ruling and also determined that previous court decisions did not fully consider the breadth of state constitutional protections against discrimination beyond those provided by the federal constitution.
Uncertainty Ahead for PA’s Abortion Access
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court could uphold the lower court’s ruling-cementing abortion as a constitutional right and requiring Medicaid coverage-or reverse it, reinstating the funding ban and narrowing the scope of constitutional protections.
As the midterms approach, the future of abortion access more broadly in Pennsylvania also hangs in the balance. Shapiro, who is running for reelection in November, said in 2024 that for as long as he was governor, his office would “protect a woman’s right to choose.”
Meanwhile, Republican gubernatorial nominee Stacy Garrity, the state treasurer vying to become Pennsylvania’s first female governor, recently opened the door for a state abortion ban after attacking the Commonwealth Court’s decision.
On social media, she deemed the ruling “misguided” and “immoral,” adding: “Elections have consequences. This callous ruling must serve as a wake-up call for November 3 and the elections that follow.”
This article contains reporting from the Associated Press.
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This story was originally published May 22, 2026 at 12:24 PM.