Supreme Court Wades Into South Carolina Fight Over Abortion, Funding to Planned Parenthood

A critical fight over funding, abortion and Medicaid is now headed for the Supreme Court.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to take up yet another case that could have a direct impact on abortion access in America, this time in a matter out of South Carolina where the state’s health department is going head to head with a patient who claims a recent Republican-led push to cut off Planned Parenthood funding violates her right to choose a health care provider under federal law.

Kerr v. Edwards originates from a Medicare funding dispute over abortion that began in 2018. That year, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) ordered the state’s health department to declare that institutions like Planned Parenthood, because they provide abortions, were no longer entitled to public funding through Medicaid.

A protracted legal battle ensued when Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and patient Julie Edwards launched a lawsuit against the state, saying that existing federal law already bars Medicaid from paying, or reimbursing Planned Parenthood, for abortions (with some exceptions for rape and incest). And further, they pointed out that Planned Parenthood renders services to Medicaid recipients in South Carolina just like Edwards besides abortion.

Medicaid patients, who are usually low-income, are among the people who go to Planned Parenthood to get access to a wide variety of health care services including critical cancer screenings, STD or STI testing and contraceptive access, they noted.

Edwards and Planned Parenthood South Atlantic contend that the Medicaid Act spells out clearly that patients on Medicaid have the right to choose a qualified health care provider. The law also says patients can sue when that right is infringed on.