HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s ban on state Medicaid dollars paying for low-income people’s abortion care is unconstitutional, a state appellate court ruled Monday.

In a 4-3 decision, Commonwealth Court said the state’s ban on these public dollars paying for abortions violates the Pennsylvania Constitution’s Equal Rights Amendment and equal protection provisions “beyond any genuine dispute of fact.”

The case could still be appealed up to the state Supreme Court. It was brought by seven reproductive health providers, who had argued, among other things, that patients have a fundamental right to make their own reproductive decisions.

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Abortion is legal through 23 weeks of pregnancy in Pennsylvania. However, the commonwealth has a longstanding ban on allowing federal or state funds to be used for abortion care, unless the case involves rape, incest, or the potential death of the mother.

Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, had not defended the state’s Medicaid coverage exclusion in court. “I've long opposed this unconstitutional ban, and as Governor, I did not defend it — because a woman's ability to access reproductive care should never be determined by her income,” Shapiro said in a statement on social media Monday.