The Supreme Court allows states to stop providing Medicaid funds to Planned Parenthood

The Supreme Court, in a divided ruling, permitted states to discontinue Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood. The decision was delivered on Thursday and comes as part of a larger effort by Republicans to withdraw financial support from the leading abortion provider in the country.

The focus of the case is on the funding allocated to other healthcare services offered by Planned Parenthood in South Carolina. Nevertheless, the verdict could have broader consequences for individuals reliant on Medicaid for health coverage.

The court split 6-3 in the opinion, with the three liberal justices dissenting.

Typically, public healthcare funds are not utilized for abortion procedures. Patients on Medicaid often visit Planned Parenthood for services such as contraception, cancer screenings, and pregnancy tests. This is partly because it can be challenging to locate a physician who accepts this form of publicly funded insurance, as stated by the organization.

South Carolina’s Republican governor says no taxpayer money should go the organization. The budget bill backed by President Donald Trump in Congress would also cut Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood. That could force the closure of about 200 centers, most of them in states where abortion is legal, the organization has said.

Gov. Henry McMaster first moved to cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood in 2018 but was blocked in court after a lawsuit from a patient named Julie Edwards. Edwards wanted to keep going there for birth control because her diabetes makes pregnancy potentially dangerous, so she sued over a provision in Medicaid law that allows patients to choose their own qualified provider.

South Carolina, though, argued that patients shouldn’t be able to file those lawsuits. The state pointed to lower courts that have been swayed by similar arguments and allowed states such as Texas to block Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood.

Public health groups like the American Cancer Society, by contrast, said in court papers that lawsuits are the only real way that Medicaid patients have been able to enforce their right to choose their own doctor. Losing that right would reduce access to health care for people on the program, which is estimated to include one-quarter of everyone in the country. Rural areas could be especially affected, advocates said in court papers.

In South Carolina, $90,000 in Medicaid funding goes to Planned Parenthood every year, a tiny fraction of the state’s total Medicaid spending. The state banned abortion at about six weeks’ gestation after the high court overturned it as a nationwide right in 2022.