WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic that South Carolina can withhold Medicaid funds from Planned Parenthood. The High Court ruled that the federal Medicaid Act does not confer an “unambiguous” right to choose a qualified medical provider and that states retain authority over defining those qualifications.

The case arose when the pro-life state of South Carolina disqualified Planned Parenthood from the state’s Medicaid funds to avoid subsidizing the abortion industry. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and one of its Medicaid clients challenged Governor Henry McMaster’s 2018 executive order claiming it violated federal law under the Medicaid Act’s “any qualified provider” language. The law’s “any qualified provider” language grants beneficiaries the right to choose their provider from a pool of providers the state has deemed qualified. 

Liberty Counsel filed an amicus brief in the case noting the law’s language allows for states to disqualify providers that engage in unethical and illegal practices, in which Planned Parenthood has been credibly implicated in these types of practices. According to Liberty Counsel’s amicus brief, Planned Parenthood is implicated in unethical and illegal profiteering of aborted baby body parts revealed through undercover videos by undercover journalists Sandra Merritt and David Daleiden. This “shadowy proliferation” of fetal tissue trafficking gives states like South Carolina a compelling interest to deem the abortion giant unqualified and keep Medicaid funds from subsidizing these “abhorrent” practices.  

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “The U.S. Supreme Court has rightfully ruled that states can defund abortion. It makes no sense to require states to fund an organization that kills children. Congress did not create a right for individuals to have states pay for their abortions. Taxpayer dollars should never be used to fund abortion or subsidize practices that kill children and harm women.”

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