McRae v. Califano

491 F. Supp. 630

Cora McRAE, Jane Doe, Mary Doe, Susan Roe, Ann Moe, Individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated; Planned Parenthood of New York City, Inc.; and Irwin B. Teran, M. D., Jane Hodgson, M. D., David B. Bingham, M. D., Hugh Savage, M. D., Edgar W. Jackson, Lewis H. Koplik, M. D., Individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated; Women's Division of the Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church, Theressa Hoover, its Associate General Secretary, Ellen Kirby, its Executive Director, Plaintiffs, v. Joseph A. CALIFANO, Jr., Secretary, United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Defendant, and Senators James L. Buckley and Jesse A. Helms, Congressman Henry J. Hyde, and Isabella M. Pernicone, Esq., Intervenor-Defendants.

NEW YORK CITY HEALTH AND HOSPITALS CORPORATION, Plaintiff, v. Joseph A. CALIFANO, Jr., Secretary, United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Defendant.

Nos. 76C1804, 76C1805.

United States District Court, E. D. New York.

January 15, 1980.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Rhonda Copelon and Nancy Stearns, Center for Constitutional Rights, New York City, Janet Benshoof and Judy Levin, American Civil Liberties Union, Sylvia A. Law, Jill Laurie Goodman, New York City, and Nadine Taub, Newark, N. J., for plaintiff women and medical doctors, and for Women's Division of the Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church.

Harriet F. Pilpel, New York City (Greenbaum, Wolff & Ernst, New York City, of counsel) and Eve W. Paul, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, New York City, for plaintiff Planned Parenthood of NYC, Inc.

Ellen Kramer Sawyer, New York City (Allen G. Schwartz, Corp. Counsel, City of New York, New York City, of counsel) for plaintiff New York City Health and Hospitals Corp.

Richard P. Caro, Asst. U. S. Atty., Brooklyn, N. Y. (Edward R. Korman, U. S. Atty., Brooklyn, N. Y., of counsel) for the Secretary.

A. Lawrence Washburn, Jr., New York City (Bodell & MaGovern, P. C., Leonard F. Manning, Washington, D. C., Dennis J. Horan, Patrick A. Troeman, Dolores V. Horan, and John D. Gorby, Americans United for Life, Inc., Legal Defense Fund, Chicago, Ill., of counsel) for intervenor-defendant Pernicone.

Gerald E. Bodell, New York City (John D. Gorby, Thomas J. Marzen, Patrick A. Trueman, Americans United for Life, Inc., Chicago, Ill., of counsel) for intervenor-defendants Buckley, Helms and Hyde.

Margo K. Rogers and John E. Heintz, Washington, D. C. (Covington & Burling, Washington, D. C., of counsel) for American Academy of Child Psychiatry, amicus curiae, supporting plaintiffs' contentions.

Leo Pfeffer, Brooklyn, N. Y., for American Jewish Congress, American Ethical Union, American Humanist Association, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Board of Church and Society, United Methodist Church, Catholics for a Free Choice, Church of the Brethren, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ, Inc.), National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods, United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Unitarian Universalist Women's Federation, United Church Board for Homeland Ministries and United Synagogue of America, amici curiae, supporting plaintiffs' contentions.

Robert A. Destro, Cleveland, Ohio, for Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights (and its members Michael J. Schwartz, Virginia C. Ryan, Kathleen C. Canepa, Ann Marie Segedy, Monte Harris Liebman and Bonnie J. Nitz), amici curiae, supporting the contentions of defendant and intervenor-defendants.

Anne R. Teicher, New York City, for Committee for Abortion Rights and against Sterilization Abuse, Committee to End Sterilization Abuse, and Comision Femenil Mexicana, amici curiae, supporting plaintiffs' contentions.

Edith Holleman, New York City (Phyllis N. Segal, New York City, of counsel) for NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, amicus curiae, supporting plaintiffs' contentions.

DOOLING, District Judge.

                              Table of Contents
                                 CONTENTS
   I  Statistical background on abortion                                          634
  II  Legislative history, the Medicaid Act and the "Hyde amendments"             639
 III  Effects of "Hyde amendments"
      A. Medicaid-related abortion litigation                                     649
      B. Consequences in the field                                                653

  IV  The medical standards before the "Hyde amendments"                          661
   V  Medical standards for abortion and related to "Hyde amendments"             664
  VI  Medical problems arising in pregnancy, related to poverty, "unwantedness,"
      age, and delay                                                              668
 VII  Mental health problems related to pregnancy; poverty as aggravating
      stress                                                                      674
VIII  Familial circumstances related to unwanted pregnancy and childbirth         676
      A.  Familial context of unwanted childbirth                                 677
      B.  Fetal abnormality                                                       678
  IX  Age and pregnancy; the younger teenager                                     680
   X  Rape and incest, prompt report                                              686
      A.  Prompt report of rape                                                   686
      B.  Report requirement in incest cases                                      688
  XI  Summary of Parts II to X                                                    689
 XII  First Amendment matters                                                     690
      A. The Roman Catholic teaching                                              692
      B. The Orthodox Jewish position                                             695
      C. The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod position                      695
      D. The Conservative and Reform Jewish position                              696
      E. American Baptist Church approach                                         697
      F. United Methodist Church, and American Protestant opinion                 700
XIII  The Roman Catholic Church and the pro-life movement                         702
      A. The Pastoral Plan and related action                                     703
      B. Other opinion among Roman Catholics                                      707
      C. Religion in relation to pro-life thought                                 710
      D. Religious attitudes related to pro-life choice                           712
      E. Picketing, etc.                                                          713
      F. The moral issue                                                          714
 XIV  Political activity on the issue                                             715
      A. The Peek episode (Minnesota)                                             716
      B. The political activity in Minnesota and church participation             717
      C. Conclusion on abortion and single-issue politics                         722
      D. The impact of the pro-life, pro-choice campaigns on Congress             723
      E. Conclusion from Parts XIII and XIV                                       727
  XV  The legal issues
      A. Threshold issues                                                         728
         1. Plaintiffs' standing                                                  728
         2. Justiciability of issue                                               728
         3. Absence of status as parties                                          731
      B. Statutory, due process and equal protection issues                       731
         1. The "Hyde amendments" amended Title XIX                               731
         2. The due process and equal protection issues                           733
            (a) Beal, Maher and Poelker                         733
            (b) "Medically necessary" related to the evidence                     735
            (c) The "Hyde amendments" impinge impermissibly on a fundamental
                right                                                             736
            (d) Impact on adolescents at high risk of pregnancy                   738
            (e) The "Hyde amendments" not reasonably related to a justifying
                legislative interest                                              738
      C. First amendment considerations                                           740

MEMORANDUM and ORDER for JUDGMENT

Following the decision of Beal v. Doe, 1977, 432 U.S. 438, 97 S.Ct. 2366, 53 L.Ed.2d 464; Maher v. Roe, 1977, 432 U.S. 464, 97 S.Ct. 2376, 53 L.Ed.2d 484, and Poelker v. Doe, 1977, 432 U.S. 519, 97 S.Ct. 2391, 53 L.Ed.2d 528, the decision in the present case preliminarily enjoining the enforcement of the so-called Hyde Amendment to the Act making Medicaid appropriations for fiscal 1977 (D.C., 421 F.Supp. 533) was vacated by the Supreme Court (433 U.S. 916, 97 S.Ct. 2993, 53 L.Ed.2d 1103) and the case was remanded "for further consideration in light of Maher v. Roe ... and Beal v. Doe". The Court denied plaintiffs' application for a stay of the execution of the order vacating the decision in this court, 434 U.S. 1301, and plaintiffs' petition for rehearing, 434 U.S. 881, 98 S.Ct. 244, 54 L.Ed.2d 165. A temporary restraining order entered in this court on July 28, 1977, was vacated on August 4, 1977.

I

The magnitude of abortion in contemporary societies appears, at least to an extent, from the published statistical data. The 1975 Abortion Surveillance Report of the Center for Disease Control ("CDC"), Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Public Health Service, supplemented by the prepublished tables for the 1976 Surveillance Report, analyzes the reported data on legal abortions...