Britell v. United States

May 29, 2002

Nature of Case:

A Massachusetts woman sued the U.S. Department of Defense for refusing to cover her abortion after doctors determined the fetus suffered from anencephaly, a condition in which the fetus does not develop a brain. The Department of Defense, which insures her through her husband, a military officer, does not cover the cost of an abortion unless the life of the woman is in danger. Current military rule prohibits the use of government funds to be used for an abortion unless the life of the woman is in immediate danger, even though the U.S. Constitution ensures the right to access a safe and legal abortion to women whose spouses are not in the military. Because of this rule the woman felt she was denied the right to equal protection under the Constitution. CHAMPUS, the Department of Defense’s health agency, argued that promoting potential life and encouraging pregnancy is the moral obligation of the government. Therefore it cannot allow funding for a procedure that terminates life.

Holding:

The U.S. District Court agreed with the woman an druled that denying coverage of the abortion was a violation of her right to equal protection under the law and ordered the Department of Defense to cover the costs of the abortion. The court also stated that encouraging women to carry a fetus that had no chance of survival outside the womb went against the government’s standards of promoting potential life. Judge Nancy Gertner found that “through the funding power the government seeks to encourage Britell and women similarly situated to suffer by carrying their anencephalic fetuses until they are born to a certain death. This rationale is no rationale at all. It is irrational, and worse yet, it is cruel.”

This case sets the standard for other women in similar circumstances to challenge insurance companies and states that deny coverage of this procedure.