"The Court in Maher noted that its description of the doctrine recognized in Wade and its progeny signaled "no retreat" from those decisions. In explaining why the constitutional principle recognized in Wade and later cases -- protecting a woman's freedom of choice -- did not translate into a constitutional obligation of Connecticut to subsidize abortions, the Court cited the" basic difference between direct state interference with a protected activity and state encouragement of an alternative activity consonant with legislative policy. Constitutional concerns are greatest when the State attempts to impose its will by force of law; the State's power to encourage actions deemed to be in the public interest is necessarily far broader." 432 U.S. at 432 U. S. 475-476 (footnote omitted). Thus, even though the Connecticut regulation favored childbirth over abortion by means of subsidization of one and not the other, the Court in Maher concluded that the regulation did not impinge on the constitutional freedom recognized in Wade because it imposed no governmental restriction on access to abortions."