Governor OKs Prenatal Care Reprieve
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SACRAMENTO — Gov. Pete Wilson’s administration said Tuesday that it will follow a Superior Court judge’s request for a voluntary delay of a plan to stop prenatal care for illegal immigrants.
The policy was scheduled to take effect Monday, more than a year after Wilson first proposed it. The case has been stalled by at least two legal challenges, one of which the state Supreme Court decided in Wilson’s favor last week.
Tuesday’s decision by an Alameda Superior Court judge stems from a lawsuit filed in June by advocates for illegal immigrants who contend that the state plan violates federal law.
After hearing the case Tuesday, Judge Sandra Margulies said she could not issue a decision before Dec. 15 and asked state officials to delay their plans.
“We decided not to draw a line in the sand,” said Carla Agar, deputy director of the state Health Services Department.
Agar said the state now plans to end the benefits to new prenatal care applicants Jan. 1 and to existing recipients in February.
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