{"id":72473,"date":"2015-08-28T12:30:46","date_gmt":"2015-08-28T16:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=72473"},"modified":"2015-08-28T12:31:22","modified_gmt":"2015-08-28T16:31:22","slug":"alaska-judge-strikes-medicaid-abortion-restriction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/alaska-judge-strikes-medicaid-abortion-restriction\/","title":{"rendered":"Alaska judge strikes down Medicaid abortion restriction"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-72538\" src=\"https:\/\/www.liveactionnews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/07_suddock.jpg\" alt=\"07_suddock\" width=\"150\" height=\"196\" \/>The Alaska Superior Court has <a href=\"http:\/\/www.alaskapublic.org\/2015\/08\/27\/judge-strikes-down-law-restricting-medicaid-funded-abortions\/\">ruled against<\/a> a 2014 state law narrowing the definition of a &#8220;medically necessary abortion&#8221; eligible for Medicaid subsidies to a list of specifically-defined health conditions.<\/p>\n<p>Judge John Suddock (pictured) of the Anchorage Superior Court\u00a0ruled that the law violated the Alaska State Constitution&#8217;s equal protection language.<\/p>\n<p>Medicaid subsidized almost 29% of the state&#8217;s abortions in 2014.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->Suddock appears to have <a href=\"http:\/\/\u201cThe legislation\u2019s sponsors argued that mental health considerations can never justify an abortion,\u201d said Suddock. \u201cBut a countervailing body of medical researchers regards that view as a canard.\u201d He elaborated further, arguing that expert testimony from physicians, provided by the plaintiff (Planned Parenthood, et al.), \u201cestablished that an abortion can in fact resolve psychiatric symptoms of women with anxiety, depression or obsessive-compulsive disorders.\u201d \u201cSimply put, an unwanted pregnancy is a crisis for any woman,\u201d Suddock wrote. \u201cTo an impoverished woman without recourse to an abortion, the crisis may be extreme.\u201d\">relied on Planned Parenthood<\/a> for his ruling:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\u201cThe legislation\u2019s sponsors argued that mental health considerations can never justify an abortion,\u201d said\u00a0Suddock. \u201cBut a countervailing body of medical researchers regards that view as a canard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">He elaborated further, arguing\u00a0that expert testimony from physicians, provided by the plaintiff (Planned Parenthood, et al.), \u201cestablished that an abortion can in fact resolve psychiatric symptoms of women with anxiety, depression or obsessive-compulsive disorders.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\u201cSimply put, an unwanted pregnancy is a crisis for any woman,\u201d Suddock wrote. \u201cTo an impoverished woman without recourse to an abortion, the crisis may be extreme.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Republican Sen. John Coghill, a sponsor of the law in question, called it &#8220;very, very evident&#8221; that the ruling was based on the judge&#8217;s &#8220;political philosoph[y]&#8221; rather than the law&#8217;s compatibility with the Constitution.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re extremely gratified,\u201d said Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest legal counsel Laura Einstein. &#8220;What the court found was that requiring women to have a health condition that was dire, that was essentially one where their life was at risk, was too high a standard and too fundamentally different than the standard that would be applied for the provision of other health services in the Medicaid program.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Many pro-lifers have sought to either tighten health exceptions to abortion laws or limit them to life-of-the-mother situations due to Doe v. Bolton, a 1973 companion Supreme Court case to Roe v. Wade, which\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.abort73.com\/abortion_facts\/us_abortion_law\/\">defines<\/a>\u00a0a health justification for abortion as any \u201cphysical, emotional, psychological, [and] familial\u201d impact. Pro-lifers fear this criteria is broad enough to theoretically justify any abortion and render an entire pro-life law toothless.<\/p>\n<p>The Alaska Attorney General&#8217;s Office is examining the ruling and has not decided whether it is going to appeal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Alaska Superior Court has ruled against a 2014 state law narrowing the definition of a &#8220;medically necessary abortion&#8221; eligible for Medicaid subsidies to a list of specifically-defined health conditions. Judge John Suddock (pictured) of the Anchorage Superior Court\u00a0ruled that the law violated the Alaska State Constitution&#8217;s equal protection language. Medicaid subsidized almost 29% of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":72536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[3473],"tags":[19,2900,4947,4954,3323,703,14,36],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Alaska judge strikes down Medicaid abortion restriction<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Relying on information brought by Planned Parenthood&#039;s witnesses, Judge Suddock stated, &quot;Simply put, an unwanted pregnancy is a crisis for any woman.&quot;\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/alaska-judge-strikes-medicaid-abortion-restriction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alaska judge strikes down Medicaid abortion restriction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Relying on information brought by Planned Parenthood&#039;s witnesses, Judge Suddock stated, &quot;Simply put, an unwanted pregnancy is a crisis for any woman.&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/alaska-judge-strikes-medicaid-abortion-restriction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-08-28T16:30:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-08-28T16:31:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/alaska-flag.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"672\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"372\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Calvin Freiburger\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Calvin Freiburger\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/alaska-judge-strikes-medicaid-abortion-restriction\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/alaska-judge-strikes-medicaid-abortion-restriction\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Calvin Freiburger\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6eb2bf94c8064b71953ba137bf413c4d\"},\"headline\":\"Alaska judge strikes down Medicaid abortion restriction\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-08-28T16:30:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-08-28T16:31:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/alaska-judge-strikes-medicaid-abortion-restriction\/\"},\"wordCount\":355,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"abortion\",\"Alaska\",\"health exceptions\",\"Judge John Suddock\",\"judiciary\",\"Medicaid\",\"Planned Parenthood\",\"taxpayer funding of abortion\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Newsbreak\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/alaska-judge-strikes-medicaid-abortion-restriction\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/alaska-judge-strikes-medicaid-abortion-restriction\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/alaska-judge-strikes-medicaid-abortion-restriction\/\",\"name\":\"Alaska judge strikes down Medicaid abortion restriction\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-08-28T16:30:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-08-28T16:31:22+00:00\",\"description\":\"Relying on information brought by Planned Parenthood's witnesses, Judge Suddock stated, \\\"Simply put, an unwanted pregnancy is a crisis for any woman.\\\"\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/alaska-judge-strikes-medicaid-abortion-restriction\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/alaska-judge-strikes-medicaid-abortion-restriction\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/alaska-judge-strikes-medicaid-abortion-restriction\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Alaska judge strikes down Medicaid abortion restriction\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, &amp; Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6eb2bf94c8064b71953ba137bf413c4d\",\"name\":\"Calvin Freiburger\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e27533b6967b0c47cce543ba67e2a7a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e27533b6967b0c47cce543ba67e2a7a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Calvin Freiburger\"},\"description\":\"Calvin Freiburger is a Wisconsin-based conservative writer and 2011 Hillsdale College graduate, dedicated to the principles of the American Founding\u2014individual liberty, limited government, public virtue, free markets, and strong defense\u2014though he believes no issue is more important than defending the unalienable rights of society\u2019s most vulnerable members. Calvin is an editor and administrator for TheFederalistPapers.org, and his work has appeared on NewsRealBlog.com, PatriotUpdate.com, LifeNews.com, LifeSiteNews.com, RightWisconsin.com, AmericanThinker.com, Stream.org, AmericanClarion.org, and more. Please check out his official website, ConservativeStandards.com. Follow @CalFreiburger\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/calvin-freiburger\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Alaska judge strikes down Medicaid abortion restriction","description":"Relying on information brought by Planned Parenthood's witnesses, Judge Suddock stated, \"Simply put, an unwanted pregnancy is a crisis for any woman.\"","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/alaska-judge-strikes-medicaid-abortion-restriction\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Alaska judge strikes down Medicaid abortion restriction","og_description":"Relying on information brought by Planned Parenthood's witnesses, Judge Suddock stated, \"Simply put, an unwanted pregnancy is a crisis for any woman.\"","og_url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/alaska-judge-strikes-medicaid-abortion-restriction\/","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2015-08-28T16:30:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-08-28T16:31:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":672,"height":372,"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/alaska-flag.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Calvin Freiburger","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@liveaction","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Calvin Freiburger","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/alaska-judge-strikes-medicaid-abortion-restriction\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/alaska-judge-strikes-medicaid-abortion-restriction\/"},"author":{"name":"Calvin Freiburger","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6eb2bf94c8064b71953ba137bf413c4d"},"headline":"Alaska judge strikes down Medicaid abortion restriction","datePublished":"2015-08-28T16:30:46+00:00","dateModified":"2015-08-28T16:31:22+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/alaska-judge-strikes-medicaid-abortion-restriction\/"},"wordCount":355,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"keywords":["abortion","Alaska","health exceptions","Judge John Suddock","judiciary","Medicaid","Planned Parenthood","taxpayer funding of abortion"],"articleSection":["Newsbreak"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/alaska-judge-strikes-medicaid-abortion-restriction\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/alaska-judge-strikes-medicaid-abortion-restriction\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/alaska-judge-strikes-medicaid-abortion-restriction\/","name":"Alaska judge strikes down Medicaid abortion restriction","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-08-28T16:30:46+00:00","dateModified":"2015-08-28T16:31:22+00:00","description":"Relying on information brought by Planned Parenthood's witnesses, Judge Suddock stated, \"Simply put, an unwanted pregnancy is a crisis for any woman.\"","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/alaska-judge-strikes-medicaid-abortion-restriction\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/alaska-judge-strikes-medicaid-abortion-restriction\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/alaska-judge-strikes-medicaid-abortion-restriction\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Alaska judge strikes down Medicaid abortion restriction"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, &amp; Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6eb2bf94c8064b71953ba137bf413c4d","name":"Calvin Freiburger","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e27533b6967b0c47cce543ba67e2a7a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e27533b6967b0c47cce543ba67e2a7a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Calvin Freiburger"},"description":"Calvin Freiburger is a Wisconsin-based conservative writer and 2011 Hillsdale College graduate, dedicated to the principles of the American Founding\u2014individual liberty, limited government, public virtue, free markets, and strong defense\u2014though he believes no issue is more important than defending the unalienable rights of society\u2019s most vulnerable members. Calvin is an editor and administrator for TheFederalistPapers.org, and his work has appeared on NewsRealBlog.com, PatriotUpdate.com, LifeNews.com, LifeSiteNews.com, RightWisconsin.com, AmericanThinker.com, Stream.org, AmericanClarion.org, and more. Please check out his official website, ConservativeStandards.com. Follow @CalFreiburger","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/calvin-freiburger\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72473"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72473"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72540,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72473\/revisions\/72540"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}