Abortion Law

The Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts (CLUM) last Tuesday contested the state law prohibiting public financing of abortions, alleging that the law discriminates on the basis of sex.

CLUM filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.

CLUM took on the case of a state employee who demanded payment from her medical insurance plan for a $150 abortion last March. The state ruled that the Harvard Community Health Plan--which covers medical costs, including the cost of elective operations--refuse payment.

The state contracts with the Harvard Community Health Plan to provide medical coverage to its employees. Since state law prohibits state-funded abortions, the health plan cannot legally finance them.

The law is discriminatory because it allows coverage of operations unique to men, such as vasectomies and circumcisions, but outlaws abortions, Nancy Gertner, CLUM attorney, said yesterday.

"The case is interesting on a political level because if women don't have the right to choose when to be a mother, then equal pay policies become null," she added.

John Roberts, CLUM executive director, said the Commission can only "make findings," which can then be contested in the Massachusetts Supreme Court.