Pro-planned parenthood and pro-abortion activists show after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the best way for South Carolina to strip Planned Parenthood of funding under the Medicaid medical health insurance program in a ruling that bolsters efforts by Republican-led states to deprive the reproductive healthcare and abortion provider of public money, outside the court in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 26, 2025.
Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled for South Carolina over its effort to defund Planned Parenthood, concluding that individual Medicaid patients cannot sue to implement their right to choose a medical provider.
The court held in a 6-3 ruling on ideological lines with the conservative justices in the bulk that the federal law in query doesn’t allow people who find themselves enrolled within the Medicaid program to file such claims.
The ruling authored by Justice Neil Gorsuch is a lift to the state’s effort to prevented Planned Parenthood from receiving funding through Medicaid, a federal program for low-income people who is run by the states, since it prevents individual patients to implement their right to decide on their preferred health care provider.
Federal funding for abortion is already banned, but conservatives have long targeted Planned Parenthood, which provides reproductive health services including abortions where allowed, for any funding it receives even it’s for other health care-related services.
They argue that even non-abortion related funding that flows to Planned Parenthood would help it perform its broader agenda that favors abortion rights.
The state’s efforts to defund Planned Parenthood got here before the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights ruling in 2022.
South Carolina now has a six-week abortion ban, meaning abortions are rare within the state.
Planned Parenthood has facilities in Charleston and Columbia that provide abortion care in compliance with the brand new law, in addition to other health care services, including contraception, cancer screenings and pregnancy testing.
In 2018, Gov. Henry McMaster issued an executive order that prohibited Planned Parenthood of South Atlantic, the local affiliate of the national group, from providing family planning services under Medicaid.
Julie Edwards, a Medicaid-eligible patient who wants to make use of Planned Parenthood, joined a lawsuit filed by the group, saying that under federal civil rights law she could implement her rights in court.
A federal judge ruled in her favor, and after lengthy litigation, the Supreme Court agreed to weigh in.
