Supreme Court takes up S.C. Planned Parenthood defunding case

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — The U.S. Supreme Court said Dec. 18 it will hear a case concerning South Carolina’s attempt to prevent Planned Parenthood from participating in its Medicaid health program, setting up what could be a major case about the nation’s largest abortion provider’s ability to use public funds in states that have restricted abortion.

Supporters of allowing Planned Parenthood to receive Medicaid funds point to that group’s involvement in cancer screening and prevention services — such as pap tests and HPV vaccinations –but critics argue the funds are fungible and could be used to facilitate abortion.

Efforts to strip Planned Parenthood of these funds are sometimes called “defunding.”

Attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom, a religious liberty law firm, representing the director of the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, asked the high court to take up the case after the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the state.

“Taxpayer dollars should never be used to fund facilities that make a profit off abortion,” John Bursch, ADF senior counsel and vice president of appellate advocacy, said in a statement.

Bursch argued that pro-life states like South Carolina should be free to disqualify Planned Parenthood and other abortion-providing entities from being eligible to receive Medicaid funding.

“Congress did not unambiguously create a right for Medicaid recipients to drag states into federal court to challenge those decisions, so no such right exists,” he argued. He added that Congress did not intend for federal courts to “second guess states’ decisions about which providers are qualified to receive Medicaid funding.”

A spokesperson for Planned Parenthood did not immediately respond to a request for comment from OSV News. On its website, Planned Parenthood disputed the notion that it gets “a blank check from the federal government.”

“Like any other health care provider or hospital, Planned Parenthood affiliates are reimbursed for services provided to patients at health centers,” it said.

Bursch told reporters in a virtual press conference Dec. 18 that South Carolina was within its rights to disqualify Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funds.

“States often disqualify medical providers for a variety of reasons, including committing medical malpractice, disregarding safety standards, fraud, providing substandard care, abusing patients and a failure to offer certain medical services, for example,” he said. “That makes sense. Taxpayer dollars should not go to clinics engaged in waste, abuse and potential fraud, not to mention those that fail to comply with basic health and safety regulations.”

South Carolina, he argued, decided that “Planned Parenthood was failing to prioritize women’s health and safety.”

“Those funds would then be available for women’s clinics across the state that can provide more comprehensive care for women and their families, such as clinics that actually offer mammograms and other important healthcare services, rather than an organization focused primarily on providing abortion,” he added.

OSV News has reached out to the South Carolina Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the bishops of that state, for comment.

The Catholic Church teaches that all human life is sacred from conception to natural death, and as such, opposes direct abortion.

After the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in June 2022, church officials in the U.S. have reiterated the church’s concern for both mother and child and called to strengthen available support for those living in poverty or other causes that can push women toward having an abortion.

This story was updated Nov. 19 at 9:10 a.m.

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