ACLU suing Nevada for banning Medicaid coverage for abortions, lawsuit claims

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — According to a media release, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Nevada filed a "legal challenge" suing the Department of Health and Human Services on behalf of the Silver State Hope Fund.

It was filed on Monday. ACLU said they are suing because Nevada banned Medicaid coverage for abortions.

"Nevada's new Equal Rights Amendment guarantees equality under the law," ACLU tweeted. "A ban on covering abortion through Medicaid unconstitutionally deprives women and people who can become pregnant of the ability to shape their own futures as equal members of society."

KTNV reached out to the department for comment, although placed after hours.

“Seventeen states cover abortion through their Medicaid programs, helping to ease the burdens that people of color, low-income workers, young people, LGBTQ+ people, and those with disabilities face when they’re trying to get health care," said West Juhl, director of communications and campaigns of ACLU of Nevada. "People deserve to be able to live safe and healthy lives and to be free to chart their own paths, and it is time to say goodbye to Medicaid coverage bans rooted in sex-based discrimination.”

Officials claim that Nevada's ban creates "sex-based discrimination for care in violation of the protections voters added to the Nevada Constitution."

The lawsuit requests the state court order of the department to remove the abortion coverage ban in Nevada's Medicaid program, according to the release.

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“Nevadans sent a strong message last November that inequality and discrimination have no place in Nevada when we voted to add the Equal Rights Amendment to our state constitution, and now we need to fulfill that promise," said Erin Bilbray-Kohn, vice president and acting executive director with the Silver State Hope Fund. "For too long, women and people who need access to abortion have been denied coverage just because they get their insurance from the state’s Medicaid program. Nevada’s Medicaid policy has forced organizations like Silver State Hope Fund to step in where the state has failed to provide funding to pregnant Nevadans to cover abortion-related costs, but this shouldn’t be how the system works. Every human deserves dignified access to health care, including abortion care, regardless of their sex, gender, or income level.”

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last year, Nevadans adopted an Equal Rights Amendment to the state constitution. Moreover, Governor Joe Lombardo signed abortion legislation into law on May 30. It was Senate Bill 131 that protects patients seeking care from outside the state of Nevada.

“At a time in our nation’s history when people in many states no longer have access to abortion after Roe v. Wade was overturned, it is even more important that states like Nevada protect abortion access and remove unnecessary barriers to abortion care," said Rebecca Chan, staff attorney, ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project. "We are going to court to ensure that all Nevadans, regardless of their income, have access to abortion and to ensure that the promises of Nevada’s ERA are fulfilled.”