On Wednesday, the United States Supreme Court announced that it would examine if South Carolina can eliminate Medicaid funding for non-abortion services at Planned Parenthood.
According to several outlets, Planned Parenthood clinics in Charleston and Columbia provide counseling, physical exams, contraception and screenings for cancer and sexually transmitted infections. In the state, abortions are outlawed after six weeks gestation, which is around the time of fetal heartbeat detection.
The justices agreed to take up the question of whether "the Medicaid Act's any-qualified provider provision unambiguously confers a private right upon a Medicaid beneficiary to choose a specific provider” (via The New York Times):
In 2018, South Carolina’s governor, Henry McMaster, a Republican, ordered state officials to deny Medicaid funds to Planned Parenthood, saying that “payment of taxpayer funds to abortion clinics, for any purpose, results in the subsidy of abortion and the denial of the right to life.”
Planned Parenthood and a patient who sought contraception sued, and a federal trial judge blocked the directive, saying that it ran afoul of Medicaid’s provision offering a free choice of provider.
The litigation that followed was convoluted and circuitous, focusing largely on whether the provision created a right that individuals could enforce.
“Taxpayer dollars should never be used to fund facilities that make a profit off abortion,” John Bursch, a lawyer with Alliance Defending Freedom, said in a statement on Wednesday. “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.”
Planned Parenthood lawyers pushed back on this.
“Planned Parenthood affiliates provide essential medical care to low-income individuals through state Medicaid programs,” a brief from the abortion giant said. “South Carolina terminated the Medicaid provider agreement of a Planned Parenthood affiliate without cause.”
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