No. 75-554
Argued: January 11, 1977Decided: June 20, 1977
- 1. Title XIX of the Social Security Act does not require the funding of nontherapeutic abortions as a condition of participation in the Medicaid program established by that Act. Pp. 443-447.
- (a) Nothing in the language of Title XIX requires a participating State to fund every medical procedure falling within the delineated categories of medical care. Each State is given broad discretion to determine the extent of medical assistance that is “reasonable” and “consistent with the objectives” of Title XIX. Pp. 443-444.
- (b) Although serious statutory questions might be presented if state Medicaid plans did not cover necessary medical treatment, it is not inconsistent with the Act’s goals to refuse to fund unnecessary (though perhaps desirable) medical services. Pp. 444-445.
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- (c) The State has a strong interest in encouraging normal childbirth
- that exists throughout the course of a woman’s pregnancy, and nothing in Title XIX suggests that it is unreasonable for a State to further that interest. It therefore will not be presumed that Congress intended to condition a State’s participation in Medicaid on its willingness to undercut that interest by subsidizing the costs of nontherapeutic abortions. Pp. 445-446.
- (d) When Congress passed Title XIX nontherapeutic abortions were unlawful in most States, a fact that undermines the contention that Congress intended to require – rather than permit – participating States to fund such abortions. Moreover, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, the agency that administers Title XIX, takes the position that the Title allows, but does not mandate, funding for such abortions. P. 447.
- 2. Whether or not that aspect of Pennsylvania’s program under which financial assistance is not provided for medically necessary abortions unless two physicians in addition to the attending physician have examined the patient and have concurred in writing as to the medical necessity of the abortion interferes with the attending physician’s medical judgment in a manner not contemplated by Congress should be considered on remand. P. 448.
523 F.2d 611, reversed and remanded.
POWELL, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BURGER, C. J., and STEWART, WHITE, REHNQUIST, and STEVENS, JJ., joined. BRENNAN, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which MARSHALL and BLACKMUN, JJ., joined, post, p. 448. MARSHALL, J., filed a dissenting opinion, post, p. 454. BLACKMUN, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which BRENNAN and MARSHALL, JJ., joined, post, p. 462.
Norman J. Watkins, Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania, argued the cause for petitioners. With him on the briefs were Robert P. Kane, Attorney General, and J. Justin Blewitt, Jr., Deputy Attorney General.
Judd F. Crosby argued the cause and filed a brief for respondents. *
[ Footnote * ] William F. Hyland, Attorney General, Stephen Skillman, Assistant Attorney General, and Erminie L. Conley, Deputy Attorney General, filed a brief for the State of New Jersey as amicus curiae urging reversal.
David S. Dolowitz, Melvin L. Wulf, and Judith M. Mears filed a brief [432 U.S. 438, 440] for the American Public Health Assn. et al. as amici curiae urging affirmance.
Patricia A. Butler and Michael A. Wolff filed a brief for Jane Doe as amicus curiae. [432 U.S. 438, 440]
MR. JUSTICE POWELL delivered the opinion of the Court.
The issue in this case is whether Title XIX of the Social Security Act, as added, 79 Stat. 343, and amended, 42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq. (1970 ed. and Supp. V), requires States that participate in the Medical Assistance (Medicaid) program to fund the cost of nontherapeutic abortions.
I
Title XIX establishes the Medicaid program under which participating States may provide federally funded medical assistance to needy persons. 1 The statute requires participating States to provide qualified individuals with financial assistance in five general categories of medical treatment. 2 42 [432 U.S. 438, 441] U.S.C. 1396a (a) (13) (B) (1970 ed., Supp. V), 1396d (a) (1)-(5) (1970 ed. and Supp. V). Although Title XIX does not require States to provide funding for all medical treatment falling within the five general categories, it does require that state Medicaid plans establish “reasonable standards . . . for determining . . . the extent of medical assistance under the plan which . . . are consistent with the objectives of [Title XIX].” 42 U.S.C. 1396a (a) (17) (1970 ed., Supp. V).
Respondents, who are eligible for medical assistance under Pennsylvania’s federally approved Medicaid plan, were denied financial assistance for desired abortions pursuant to Pennsylvania regulations limiting such assistance to those abortions that are certified by physicians as medically necessary. 3 When [432 U.S. 438, 442] respondents’ applications for Medicaid assistance were denied because of their failure to furnish the required certificates, they filed this action in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. Their complaint alleged that Pennsylvania’s requirement of a certificate of medical necessity contravened relevant provisions of Title XIX and denied them equal protection of the laws in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.
A three-judge District Court was convened pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 2281. After resolving the statutory issue against respondents, the District Court held that Pennsylvania’s medical-necessity restriction denied respondents equal protection of the laws. Doe v. Wohlgemuth, 376 F. Supp. 173 (1974). 4 [432 U.S. 438, 443] Accordingly, the court granted a declaratory judgment that the Pennsylvania requirement was unconstitutional as applied during the first trimester. The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, sitting en banc, reversed on the statutory issue, holding that Title XIX prohibits participating States from requiring a physician’s certificate of medical necessity as a condition for funding during both the first and second trimesters of pregnancy. 5 523 F.2d 611 (1975). The Court of Appeals therefore did not reach the constitutional issue. 6
We granted certiorari to resolve a conflict among the federal courts as to the requirements of Title XIX. 7 428 U.S. 909 (1976).
II
The only question before us is one of statutory construction: whether Title XIX requires Pennsylvania to fund under [432 U.S. 438, 444] its Medicaid program the cost of all abortions that are permissible under state law. “The starting point in every case involving construction of a statute is the language itself.” Blue Chip Stamps v. Manor Drug Stores, 421 U.S. 723, 756 (1975) (POWELL, J., concurring). Title XIX makes no reference to abortions, or, for that matter, to any other particular medical procedure. Instead, the statute is cast in terms that require participating States to provide financial assistance with respect to five broad categories of medical treatment. See n. 2, supra. But nothing in the statute suggests that participating States are required to fund every medical procedure that falls within the delineated categories of medical care. Indeed, the statute expressly provides:
- “A State plan for medical assistance must . . . include reasonable standards . . . for determining eligibility for and the extent of medical assistance under the plan which . . . are consistent with the objectives of this [Title] . . . .” 42 U.S.C. 1396a (a) (17) (1970 ed., Supp. V).
This language confers broad discretion on the States to adopt standards for determining the extent of medical assistance, requiring only that such standards be “reasonable” and “consistent with the objectives” of the Act. 8
Pennsylvania’s regulation comports fully with Title XIX’s broadly stated primary objective to enable each State, as far as practicable, to furnish medical assistance to individuals whose income and resources are insufficient to meet the costs of necessary medical services. See 42 U.S.C. 1396, 1396a (10) (C) (1970 ed., Supp. V). Although serious statutory questions might be presented if a state Medicaid plan excluded necessary medical treatment from its coverage, it is hardly inconsistent with the objectives of the Act for a State [432 U.S. 438, 445] to refuse to fund unnecessary – though perhaps desirable – medical services.
The thrust of respondents’ argument is that the exclusion of nontherapeutic abortions from Medicaid coverage is unreasonable on both economic and health grounds. 9 The economic argument is grounded on the view that abortion is generally a less expensive medical procedure than childbirth. Since a pregnant woman normally will either have an abortion or carry her child full term, a State that elects not to fund nontherapeutic abortions will eventually be confronted with the greater expenses associated with childbirth. The corresponding health argument is based on the view that an early abortion poses less of a risk to the woman’s health than childbirth. Consequently, respondents argue, the economic and health considerations that ordinarily support the reasonableness of state limitations on financing of unnecessary medical services are not applicable to pregnancy.
Accepting respondents’ assumptions as accurate, we do not agree that the exclusion of nontherapeutic abortions from Medicaid coverage is unreasonable under Title XIX. As we acknowledged in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), the State has a valid and important interest in encouraging childbirth. We expressly recognized in Roe the “important and legitimate [432 U.S. 438, 446] interest [of the State] . . . in protecting the potentiality of human life.” Id., at 162. That interest alone does not, at least until approximately the third trimester, become sufficiently compelling to justify unduly burdensome state interference with the woman’s constitutionally protected privacy interest. But it is a significant state interest existing throughout the course of the woman’s pregnancy. Respondents point to nothing in either the language or the legislative history of Title XIX that suggests that it is unreasonable for a participating State to further this unquestionably strong and legitimate interest in encouraging normal childbirth. 10 Absent such a showing, we will not presume that Congress intended to condition a State’s participation in the Medicaid program on its willingness to undercut this important interest by subsidizing the costs of nontherapeutic abortions. 11 [432 U.S. 438, 447]
Our interpretation of the statute is reinforced by two other relevant considerations. First, when Congress passed Title XIX in 1965, nontherapeutic abortions were unlawful in most States. 12 In view of the then-prevailing state law, the contention that Congress intended to require – rather than permit – participating States to fund nontherapeutic abortions requires far more convincing proof than respondents have offered. Second, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, the agency charged with the administration of this complicated statute, 13 takes the position that Title XIX allows – but does not mandate – funding for such abortions. “[W]e must be mindful that `the construction of a statute by those charged with its execution should be followed unless there are compelling indications that it is wrong . . . .'” New York Dept. of Soc. Services v. Dublino, 413 U.S. 405, 421 (1973), quoting Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC, 395 U.S. 367, 381 (1969). Here, such indications are completely absent.
We therefore hold that Pennsylvania’s refusal to extend Medicaid coverage to nontherapeutic abortions is not inconsistent with Title XIX. 14 We make clear, however, that the federal statute leaves a State free to provide such coverage if it so desires. 15 [432 U.S. 438, 448]
III
There is one feature of the Pennsylvania Medicaid program, not addressed by the Court of Appeals, that may conflict with Title XIX. Under the Pennsylvania program, financial assistance is not provided for medically necessary abortions unless two physicians in addition to the attending physician have examined the patient and have concurred in writing that the abortion is medically necessary. See n. 3, supra. On this record, we are unable to determine the precise role played by these two additional physicians, and consequently we are unable to ascertain whether this requirement interferes with the attending physician’s medical judgment in a manner not contemplated by the Congress. The judgment of the Court of Appeals is therefore reversed, and the case is remanded for consideration of this requirement.
