Home > Great American Court Cases > Maher v. Roe

Legal Citation: 432 U.S. 464 (1977)

Appellant
Maher, Connecticut Commissioner of Social Services

Appellees
Mary Poe, Susan Roe

Appellant's Claim
That the Connecticut Welfare Department regulation that limits state Medicaid benefits for first trimester abortions to those that are "medically necessary" violates the Fourteenth Amendment rights of low-income women to equal protection under the law, since the state did provide Medicaid benefits to cover childbirth expenses.

Chief Lawyer for Appellant
Lucy V. Katz

Chief Lawyer for Appellees
Edmund C. Walsh, Assistant Attorney General of Connecticut

Justices for the Court
Warren E. Burger, Lewis F. Powell, Jr. (writing for the Court), William H. Rehnquist, John Paul Stevens, Potter Stewart, Byron R. White

Justices Dissenting
Harry A. Blackmun, William J. Brennan,...