Supreme Court to weigh state moves to cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood
The Supreme Court said Wednesday it will consider South Carolina’s move to cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood, the latest abortion-related case since overturning it as a nationwide right
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Wednesday it will consider South Carolina's move to cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood, the latest abortion-related case since the justices overturned Roe v. Wade.
The court agreed to take up the state's appeal of a lower-court ruling focused on whether Medicaid patients can sue over their right to choose their own qualified provider. The case will be argued in the spring.
South Carolina moved in 2018 to cut off funding to Planned Parenthood. The organization uses Medicaid funding for family planning health services rather than abortions, but Gov. Henry McMaster said any public money sent there “results in the subsidy of abortion.”
Medicaid does not pay for abortion except in cases when a pregnant woman’s life is at risk or the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest. Planned Parenthood has previously said it gets less than $100,000 in South Carolina, one of many conservative-leaning states that sought to halt or reduce public funding for the nation's largest U.S. abortion provider.