Harris v. McRae

This ruling meant that the federal government would not subsidize abortions for poor women--even when a medical necessity.

Following its 1973 decision to make abortion legal in Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruled on a number of state attempts to limit women's access to (or state support for) abortions. In careful "pick and choose" decisions, the Court found some restrictions--no saline abortions, attempting to preserve the life of aborted fetuses, and prior written consent of husbands or minors' parents--to be unconstitutional.

Other restrictions--prohibiting the abortion of a "viable" fetus, certain record-keeping regulations on abortion providers, and requiring pregnant women to furnish written consent prior to an abortion--were considered constitutional. Finally, in 1980, the Court ruled on the constitutionality of an even more severe measure: the federal Hyde Amendment, which withheld Medicaid funding even in cases of medically necessary abortions.