Clinics serve Medicaid healthcare program clients

*
reference.com
States look for to deny abortion suppliers of public funds

By Andrew Chung

WASHINGTON, June 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way on Thursday for South Carolina to remove Planned Parenthood of moneying under the Medicaid medical insurance program in a ruling that reinforces efforts by Republican-led states to deprive the reproductive healthcare and abortion service provider of public cash.

The 6-3 ruling overturned a lower court's choice barring Republican-governed South Carolina from ending regional affiliate Planned Parenthood South Atlantic's participation in the state's Medicaid program due to the fact that the organization provides abortions.

The court's three liberal justices dissented from the decision.

The case focused on whether receivers of Medicaid, a joint federal and state health insurance coverage program for low-income people, may sue to enforce a requirement under U.S. law that they might get medical support from any qualified and ready provider.

Since the Supreme Court in 2022 reversed its landmark Roe v. Wade ruling that had legalized abortion nationwide, a number of Republican-led states have executed near-total bans or, like South Carolina, prohibitions after six weeks of pregnancy.

Planned Parenthood South Atlantic operates clinics in the South Carolina cities of Charleston and Columbia, where it serves hundreds of Medicaid patients each year, supplying health examinations, screenings for cancer and diabetes, pregnancy testing, birth control and other services.

The Planned Parenthood affiliate and Medicaid patient Julie Edwards took legal action against in 2018 after Republican Governor Henry McMaster purchased South Carolina officials to end the organization's participation in the state Medicaid program by considering any abortion supplier unqualified to provide family preparation services.

The plaintiffs sued South Carolina under an 1871 U.S. law that helps people challenge illegal acts by state officials. They stated the Medicaid law secures what they called a "deeply personal right" to choose one's physician.

The South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom conservative legal group and backed by President Donald Trump's administration, said the disputed Medicaid arrangement in this case does not fulfill the "high bar for recognizing private rights."

A federal judge ruled in Planned Parenthood's favor, discovering that Medicaid receivers might sue under the 1871 law and that the state's relocation to defund the company violated the right of Edwards to easily select a competent medical service provider.

In 2024, the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also sided with the complainants.

The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case on April 2.
reference.com
The disagreement has actually reached the Supreme Court 3 times. The court in 2020 turned down South Carolina's appeal at an earlier stage of the case. In 2023, it purchased a lower court to reassess South Carolina's arguments in light of a ruling the had issued including the rights of assisted living home citizens that discussed that laws like Medicaid should unambiguously provide people the right to take legal action against.

(Reporting by Andrew Chung