CV NEWS FEED // South Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services is set to present oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court April 2, in a case that Planned Parenthood South Atlantic launched after the state determined the abortion giant does not qualify as a Medicaid provider. The court’s decision could affect whether states are able to deny Medicaid tax dollars from funding the abortion giant.
According to an April 1 Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) press release, the federal government, 18 states, and several Congress members, pro-life advocates, and South Carolina medical practitioners have filed briefs with the Court in support of South Carolina.
As CatholicVote previously reported, South Carolina in 2018 determined that Planned Parenthood South Atlantic did not qualify as a “provider” under Medicaid because the company commits abortions. Planned Parenthood sued, and in April 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit sided with the abortion company. ADF’s lawyers representing the South Carolina HHS appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that the situation is widely applicable to the nation because it begs an important question brought up by a provision added by Congress in 1967 to the Medicaid Act.
The provision allows Medicaid beneficiaries to choose “any [provider] qualified to perform the service” in need. The petitioners argued in their appeal to the Supreme Court that the Act does not give a definition for “qualified.”
On April 2 at 10 a.m. EST, ADF Senior Counsel John Bursch will be arguing on behalf of South Carolina’s HHS Director Eunice Medina.
“Taxpayer dollars should never be used to fund facilities that profit off abortion and distribute dangerous gender-transition drugs to minors,” Bursch said in the April 1 release. “State officials should be free to determine that Planned Parenthood — a multi-billion-dollar activist organization — is not a real healthcare provider and is not qualified to receive taxpayer funding through Medicaid.”
After the oral arguments, Bursch and Republican South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster will hold a press conference outside of the court building.
Bursch emphasized that Congress had not intended “for federal courts to second-guess states’ decisions about which providers are qualified to receive Medicaid funding. We are urging the Supreme Court to restore the ability of states to steward limited public resources to best serve their citizens.”
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