Planned Parenthood Sues State Over Contraception Rights For Girls

The organisation Planned Parenthood is suing the state of Montana because its low-income health insurance program does not provide birth control for teenage girls.

The program, Healthy Montana Kids, will cover birth control prescriptions only if the contraceptives are used to treat menstrual cramps or acne. If the contraceptives are prescribed solely to prevent pregnancy, it will not be covered by the insurance plan.

Planned Parenthood claims that this exclusion is a violation of the constitutional rights of the girls who are being denied cover for contraceptive protection. As it is not included in the program, teens who wish to protect themselves against falling pregnant will have to pay for their own contraceptives. Almost 25,000 children are covered by the Healthy Montana Kids program, and 10% of these are girls aged 15-19.

J. Stuart Segrest, the Assistant Attorney General, defends the omission by explaining that there is no requirement that states subsidise contraceptives, and that teenage girls still have access to the different forms of birth control, albeit at a cost. Segrest made the additional point that “we’re not talking about pregnant women. We’re not talking about women with any kind of medical need.”

The attorney for Planned Parenthood, Helene Krasnoff, quoted on NECN.com, told the judge that the women they are representing have a “constitutional right to access contraception, and when they are doing that, the state has to treat that choice with neutrality”.

The arguments were presented to the Helena District Judge James Reynolds earlier this month, but a ruling has not yet been made.