The Blair County Drug Court has been helping people get a second chance at life since 2000. Its 98 percent success rate is the highest in the nation. Both state and county funded, drug court is an alternative that lessens jail time and provides treatment for drug offenders who want to be helped. The district attorney's office plays a major role; one way people cam get into the 36-month program is by a suggestion from the district attorney's office.

District Attorney Rich Consiglio said he was outraged when he found out a woman was lent money to get an abortion.

"Had I know about it, I would have stopped it right away," said Consiglio.

Blair County's President Judge Jolene Kopriva is one of the memebers on the 10-person committee. She told WJAC-TV it's not uncommon to give money to people in the program for eyeglasses, security deposits, even GED tests to help with their rehab.

Kopriva said when a woman asked for money to have an abortion, it was a first in the drug court's history.

"We went to the judicial bypass section of the abortion law. We wanted to take the emotional aspect out of our decision, so we used it as a tool," said Kopriva.

A portion of the law allows a person to petition a judge to allow them to have an abortion if they are making a knowingly and intelligent decision.

Kopriva said, "The woman was in crisis. We were just lending her the money, but she was going to have to pay us back."

The district attorney intervened before the women had an abortion. An anonymous donor paid the drug court back to prevent it from suffering consequences.

The committee now has a policy that they will never decide to fund or not to fund an abortion because it's not a neutral issue.