Supreme Court to weigh state moves to cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood

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The Supreme Court said Wednesday it will consider South Carolina’s move to cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood, the latest abortion-related case since the justices overturned Roe v. Wade.

The court agreed to take up the state’s appeal of a lower-court ruling focused on whether Medicaid patients can sue over their right to choose their own qualified provider. The case will be argued in the Spring.

South Carolina moved in 2018 to cut off funding to Planned Parenthood, which uses the money for family planning rather than abortions. Medicaid does not pay for abortion except in cases when a pregnant woman’s life is at risk or the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest. The organization has said it gets less than $100,000 in South Carolina, one of many conservative states that sought to halt or reduce public funding for Planned Parenthood.

Lower courts blocked the move after a challenge from the organization and a patient, finding that federal law says patients may seek care at clinics of their own choosing.

Planned Parenthood’s medical services include birth control, cancer screenings and STD testing. It operates two clinics in South Carolina, serving hundreds of patients a year covered by Medicaid, a joint federal and state program that covers health services for low-income people.

South Carolina now bans abortion around six weeks of pregnancy, or when cardiac activity is detected, with limited exceptions. Most Republican-controlled states have move to restrict it since the high court overturned constitutional protections for abortion in 2022.

“Pro-life states like South Carolina should be free to determine that Planned Parenthood and other entities that peddle abortion are not qualified to receive taxpayer funding through Medicaid,” said John Bursch, an attorney with the group Alliance Defending Freedom who is representing the state.

A message seeking comment from Planned Parenthood wasn’t immediately returned.

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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.