Supreme Court lets South Carolina block Medicaid funds from Planned Parenthood

Washington — The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected Planned Parenthood's challenge to South Carolina's attempt to bar the organization from participating in its Medicaid program, clearing the way for the state to strip the organization of Medicaid funds.

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in the case of Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic to find that Planned Parenthood and a patient cannot sue the state of South Carolina to enforce a provision of the Medicaid Act that aims to ensure a patient can obtain medical care from the provider of their choosing. Justice Neil Gorsuch delivered the opinion for the court. The three liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, were in dissent.

The court's conservative majority reversed a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit that allowed Planned Parenthood's lawsuit against state officials to move forward. It is likely to pave the way for more states to exclude Planned Parenthood from their Medicaid programs, a move that anti-abortion rights have been pushing for several years.