Defund Planned Parenthood? Supreme Court to weigh in South Carolina fight
The Supreme Court agreed to review a lower court's decision that Medicaid patients have the right to choose their health care provider.
WASHINGTON − The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it will review South Carolina’s efforts to strip Planned Parenthood of Medicaid funds, taking on another dispute in the abortion wars in conservative states.
The justices agreed to review a lower court’s decision that Medicaid patients have the right to choose their health care provider.
Although Planned Parenthood is barred from receiving public funds for performing abortions, conservative states have argued the health care provider should be cut off from any government funds.
“Taxpayer dollars should never be used to fund facilities that make a profit off abortion,” said John Bursch, a lawyer with Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.
Jenny Black, who heads Planned Parenthood South Atlantic called the case “politics at its worst.”
Black said anti-abortion politicians are “using their power to target Planned Parenthood and block people who use Medicaid as their primary form of insurance from getting essential health care like cancer screenings and birth control.”
In 2018, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster banned abortion clinics from providing birth control, cancer screenings or other health care services to Medicaid patients.
Planned Parenthood and one of its patients sued.
The Richmond, Virgina-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the state, saying Medicaid patients can “freely choose among qualified healthcare providers, of which Planned Parenthood is one.
In urging the Supreme Court to review that decision, South Carolina called it “a recurring question of great national importance.”
It's not just conservative states that want to defund Planned Parenthood.
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, leaders of President-elect Donald Trump’s efforts to cut government spending, have said they've got the health care provider in their crosshairs.
The case, Kerr v. Planned Parenthood, is expected to be decided by summer.