BREAKING: Supreme Court rules against Planned Parenthood in Medicaid funding dispute

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From Fox News: The Supreme Court has ruled that South Carolina has the power to block Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood clinics, in a technical interpretation over healthcare choices that has emerged as a larger political fight over abortion access.

The case, Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, centers on whether low-income Medicaid patients can sue in order to choose their own qualified healthcare provider. The federal-state program has shared responsibility for funding and administering it, through private healthcare providers.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster had been pushing to block public health dollars from going to Planned Parenthood, but a resident and patient at Planned Parenthood South Atlantic argued that doing so violated her rights under the Medicaid Act.

The key provision in the 1965 Medicaid Act guarantees patients a “free choice of provider” that is willing and qualified. Much of the conflict dealt with whether Planned Parenthood was a “qualified provider” under the Medicaid law, and whether individual patients have an unambiguous “right” to sue to see their provider of choice, under its specific language.

In the 6-3 decision announced Thursday morning, liberal justices Jackson, Sotomayor and Kagan all dissented.

Reactions are pouring in, with many praising Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the conservative law firm defending the South Carolina law.

ADF wrote, “🚨 BREAKING: Supreme Court rules for South Carolina! States are now free to defund Planned Parenthood and redirect taxpayer dollars to real, life-affirming care. This is a major win for South Carolina—and a path forward for every state that wants to stop funding abortion and gender ideology.”

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