Maher v. Roe

Appellant

Maher, Connecticut Commissioner of Social Services

Appellees

Mary Poe, Susan Roe

Appellant's Claim

That the Connecticut Welfare Department regulation that limits state Medicaid benefits for first trimester abortions to those that are "medically necessary" violates the Fourteenth Amendment rights of low-income women to equal protection under the law, since the state did provide Medicaid benefits to cover childbirth expenses.

Chief Lawyer for Appellant

Lucy V. Katz

Chief Lawyer for Appellees

Edmund C. Walsh, Assistant Attorney General of Connecticut

Justices for the Court

Warren E. Burger, Lewis F. Powell, Jr. (writing for the Court), William H. Rehnquist, John Paul Stevens, Potter Stewart, Byron R. White

Justices Dissenting

Harry A. Blackmun, William J. Brennan, Jr., Thurgood Marshall

Place

Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision

20 June 1977

Decision

That states have a right to favor childbirth over abortion by funding one under Medicaid while refusing to fund the other.