The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a six-year-old case about whether South Carolina can prevent Medicaid funds from covering services other than abortions at Planned Parenthood facilities and other abortion centers.
On Wednesday, the magistrates They announced that they will take up the case in their 2024-2025 term. The case arises from a demand which Planned Parenthood introduced in 2018 after Governor Henry McMaster blocked abortion centers from receiving those funds by executive order.
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Under federal law, federal Medicaid funds cannot be used to pay for abortions unless the mother’s life is at risk or the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest. However, federal law does allow these funds pay for other services in abortion centers. The court’s ruling will determine whether states can prevent those funds from covering non-abortion-related services at those facilities.
“Taxpayer money should never fund abortion providers like Planned Parenthood,” McMaster said in a post on X after the court agreed to hear the case.
“In 2018, I issued an executive order to end this practice in South Carolina,” he added. “I am confident that the United States Supreme Court will agree with me that states should not be forced to subsidize abortions.”
The state government has argued that it has the authority to determine which organizations can access the federal funds it receives for family planning services and that it can allocate funds to other organizations that provide family planning services, while exempting abortion centers . The lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood contends that the state is interfering with a patient’s ability to obtain health care services at “the qualified provider of his or her choice.”
“Taxpayer money should never be used to fund facilities that profit from abortion,” Alliance Defending Freedom senior attorney John Bursch said in a statement.
Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys represent the state’s interests in the lawsuit.
“Pro-life states like South Carolina should be free to determine that Planned Parenthood and other entities that promote abortion are not qualified to receive taxpayer funds through Medicaid,” Bursch added. “Congress did not unequivocally create a right for Medicaid recipients to take states to federal courts to challenge those decisions, so that right does not exist.”
Jenny Black, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, said in a statement that “every person should be able to access quality, affordable health care from a provider they trust, regardless of their income or insurance status.”
“This case is politics at its worst: anti-abortion politicians using their power to attack Planned Parenthood and prevent people who use Medicaid as their primary form of insurance from getting essential health care, like cancer screenings and birth control.” birth rate,” Black said.
In March 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled in favor of Planned Parenthood and ordered the state to grant abortion facilities access to those federal funds. Alliance Defending Freedom appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court.
Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in CNA.
Tyler Arnold
Tyler Arnold is a reporter for the National Catholic Register. He previously worked at The Center Square and has published in a variety of outlets, including The Associated Press, National Review, The American Conservative, and The Federalist.