In the United States, the Supreme Court authorizes South Carolina to defund Planned Parenthood, paving the way for other states hostile to abortion

The US Supreme Court, with a conservative majority, endorsed South Carolina's withdrawal of public funding from the family planning organization Planned Parenthood on Thursday, June 26, paving the way for similar decisions in other states hostile to abortion rights.

The case does not directly concern abortion rights, but rather the funding freeze for organizations that advocate for them. At issue is a 2018 decision by Republican Governor Henry McMaster to exclude Planned Parenthood from the Medicaid public health insurance program because of its involvement in abortions.

The organization operates two clinics in the state where it provides care to low-income people with Medicaid funding, such as medical exams, cancer screenings, and screenings for chronic conditions like diabetes, anemia, and hypertension. These facilities also perform abortions, which are only legal during the first six weeks of pregnancy in the southeastern US state.

Planned Parenthood and a woman with diabetes successfully challenged the governor's decision, arguing that it violated a federal law that allows a patient to be treated by the qualified health care provider of their choice.

But the Supreme Court, split along ideological lines, with six conservatives against three progressives, ruled that the law does not allow an individual, in this case a patient, to challenge in court the exclusion of her doctor, clinic, or hospital from the Medicaid program. "It is up to the elected representatives of the people, not unelected judges charged with applying the law as it stands," wrote conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch for the majority.

Ketanji Brown Jackson, speaking for the three liberal justices, dissented. “At a minimum, this decision will deprive Medicaid recipients of their only real recourse to enforce the right Congress expressly granted them,” she said.

And beyond that, "it will strip these South Carolinians—and countless other Medicaid recipients across the country—of a deeply personal freedom," that of choosing their caregiver in a vulnerable situation, Ketanji Brown Jackson laments. "While the immediate impact of this decision is limited to South Carolina, other states could decide to prevent people with Medicaid coverage from accessing certain health providers for political reasons," Planned Parenthood responded.