Legal/Law/Criminal Justice and Reform

Supreme Court To Consider Whether Red State Can Defund Planned Parenthood

Supreme Court (By Joe Ravi, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16959908)

The Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to consider whether South Carolina can block Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funds.

Planned Parenthood and a patient sued South Carolina in 2018 after the state excluded abortion providers from offering family planning services through Medicaid.

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a decision preventing the state from removing Planned Parenthood from the Medicaid program in March.

“Planned Parenthood could receive state Medicaid funding if it chooses to stop performing abortions,” South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services director Robert Kerr’s petition states. “But it has not made that choice.”

‼️BREAKING: SCOTUS agrees to consider taxpayer funding of abortion facilities‼️

The Supreme Court has announced it will hear Planned Parenthood v. Kerr, in which ADF is helping South Carolina defend its decision to direct Medicaid funds away from abortion providers like Planned… pic.twitter.com/Vq1GRZMD6Q

— Alliance Defending Freedom (@ADFLegal) December 18, 2024

Patient Julie Edwards and Planned Parenthood argue that the state’s decision violates the Medicaid Act’s “free-choice-of-provider,” which “gives Medicaid recipients the right to choose to receive their medical care from any qualified and willing provider.”

The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is representing Kerr in the case.

“Taxpayer dollars should never be used to fund facilities that make a profit off abortion,” ADF Senior Counsel and Vice President of Appellate Advocacy John Bursch wrote in a statement. “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.”