D______ R______, on Behalf of Herself and All Other Persons Similarly Situated v. Anthony Mitchell

617 F.2d 203
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedMarch 10, 1980
Docket78-1675
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 617 F.2d 203 (D______ R______, on Behalf of Herself and All Other Persons Similarly Situated v. Anthony Mitchell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
D______ R______, on Behalf of Herself and All Other Persons Similarly Situated v. Anthony Mitchell, 617 F.2d 203 (10th Cir. 1980).

Opinion

SETH, Chief Judge.

This appeal concerns the use of public assistance funds for abortions in the State of Utah. The Utah-federal relationship in the administration of Social Security Act programs and welfare program is typical. The particular program here concerned is the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) under 42 U.S.C. § 601 and following, and the Medicaid Assistance program under 42 U.S.C. § 1396 and following. Utah had chosen to participate in both programs and to administer the combined funds thereunder. 42 U.S.C. § 1396 provides generally that “medical assistance” be provided to those eligible when the resources of the individual are not enough to pay for “necessary medical services.”

We do not have the necessary parties before us to give complete consideration to the statutory issue including the Hyde Amendment. The Government is not a party under 28 U.S.C. § 2403(a). Thus we will start with the Constitutional issue, and discuss together the due process and equal protection issues as separate consideration does not seem warranted.

The Utah statute does not permit public assistance funds to be used for abortions unless the life of the mother is endangered. The plaintiff challenged the statute as a violation of the fourteenth amendment, and also on the ground that it was contrary to Title XIX of the Social Security Act of 1965.

The trial court held that the state statute so limiting abortions was effective to support the defendants’ actions and was valid as against the challenge. The plaintiff has appealed.

The individual plaintiff-appellant is an unmarried woman residing in Utah and the mother of one child. When the suit was commenced she was pregnant, in her second trimester. She was receiving AFDC assistance (42 U.S.C. § 601) when she sought medical care. She consulted her doctor who determined that an abortion was a suitable treatment for this patient, and further concluded that an abortion was a medically necessary procedure in the circumstances.

The University of Utah Medical Center refused to admit the plaintiff for such an abortion on the ground that Utah statutes did not permit the use of public assistance funds for the purpose sought. The Utah statute in pertinent part is as follows:

“The department shall not provide any public assistance for medical, hospital or other medical expenditures or medical services to otherwise eligible persons where the purpose of such assistance is for the performance of an abortion, unless the life of the mother would be'endangered if an abortion is not performed.” Utah Code Ann. § 55-15a-3, 1953 (1979 Supp.).

There have been many recent cases in the trial and appellate courts which raise the issues presented by this appeal. The opinions and the literature generally have both become extensive. We hesitate to add more and propose to state only what is necessary to describe the conclusions reached and to so decide the case. We follow the analysis in Doe v. Rose, 499 F.2d 1112 (10th Cir.). We also have relied on Reproductive Health Services v. Freeman, 614 F.2d 585 (8th Cir.).

The position taken by the trial judge on the Constitutional issue was arrived at by his use of definitions of “therapeutic” and “non-therapeutic” procedures. His view essentially was that a non-therapeutic procedure was anything short of a lifesaving measure. Thus as to abortions, and under the statute of Utah, “unless the life of the mother would be endangered if an abortion is not performed,” the procedure would be non-therapeutic, and “not necessary.” The “not necessary” standard was apparently taken from Beal v. Doe, 432 U.S. 438, 97 S.Ct. 2366, 53 L.Ed.2d 464, wherein the Court in substance held that a state in its supervision and participation in the Medic *205 aid program was not required to pay for medical procedures which were not necessary including non-therapeutic abortions.

The trial court also concluded that the State of Utah by the statute above quoted had defined therapeutic and non-therapeutic abortions or had determined what was medically necessary and what was not. This distinction was to override what a doctor might determine in an individual ease.

We cannot agree with the trial court’s definitions and its reading of the several Supreme Court cases. The Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 93 S.Ct. 705, 35 L.Ed.2d 147, and Doe v. Bolton, 410 U.S. 179, 93 S.Ct. 739, 35 L.Ed.2d 201, rights were examined in Beal v. Doe, 432 U.S. 438, 97 S.Ct. 2366, 53 L.Ed.2d 464, and Maher v. Roe, 432 U.S. 464, 97 S.Ct. 2376, 53 L.Ed.2d 484, as they related to non-therapeutic abortions. The cases create a definite distinction between therapeutic and non-therapeutic abortions. This classification when applied to what is before us as a medically necessary procedure would seem to require us to equate medically necessary with therapeutic.

We also cannot agree that Utah by its life-threatening limitation made a valid distinction by giving weight to or consideration of the health of the woman only in life and death situations. It is apparent that short of the life endangering circumstances there are many other and different and serious conditions which have a direct bearing on what may be the proper medical solution. The severity and the interaction of these conditions must depend on the particular circumstances and on the particular person. The factors cannot be listed or defined by statute and cannot be anticipated. See the listing of possibilities in Roe v. Wade to be added to the basic medical problems.

In Maher v. Roe the Court said, “the central question in this case is whether the regulation ‘impinges upon a fundamental right explicitly or implicitly protected by the Constitution.’ ” The Court there, of course, decided a large segment of the funding for abortions issue, but the portion here before us unfortunately was not included. Thus Maher decided the funding issue as to non-therapeutic abortions. It so decided that Roe

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Related

Utah Women's Clinic, Inc. v. Graham
892 F. Supp. 1379 (D. Utah, 1995)

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617 F.2d 203, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/d______-r______-on-behalf-of-herself-and-all-other-persons-similarly-ca10-1980.