The U.S. Supreme Court just handed a major win to Republican lawmakers and the Trump administration in their ongoing effort to strip funding from Planned Parenthood. In a 6–3 decision, the Court said South Carolina can block the organization from its Medicaid program—not because it’s unqualified to provide care, but simply because it also offers abortion services.
This ruling will leave thousands of low-income South Carolinians without access to basic health care like STI testing, cancer screenings, and birth control.
The Case That Opened the Door
The case, Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, centered on whether Medicaid patients could sue if a state kicks out a qualified provider like Planned Parenthood. Federal Medicaid law promises patients a “free choice of provider.” But the Court decided that patients can’t sue if a state cuts off a provider for political reasons, not medical ones.
Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion. He said, “Medicaid offers States ‘a bargain.’ In return for federal funds, States agree ‘to spend them in accordance with congressionally imposed conditions.’” He added, “This case poses the question whether… individual Medicaid beneficiaries may sue state officials for failing to comply with one funding condition…”
The Court said no.
This is the first major ruling on reproductive rights since Donald Trump returned to the political spotlight. His administration backed South Carolina in the case, pushing a long-standing Republican goal: defund Planned Parenthood.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster first tried to do just that back in 2018. He signed an executive order to strip Medicaid funding from any clinic associated with abortion. “Taxpayer dollars must not directly or indirectly subsidize abortion providers like Planned Parenthood,” McMaster said.
But that move also cut access to birth control, STI treatment, and general health care for low-income patients. Medicaid rarely covers abortion due to the Hyde Amendment, which bans federal funding except in cases of rape, incest, or life endangerment.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson didn’t hold back in her dissent. She compared the ruling to the post-Civil War era, when violent efforts were made to strip rights from newly freed Black Americans.
“In the wake of the Civil War, the American South was consumed by a wave of terrorist violence… The threat was existential — not just for the newly liberated, but for democracy itself,” she wrote. “A century and a half later, the project of stymying one of the country’s great civil rights laws continues.”
Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor also dissented.
Planned Parenthood leaders slammed the decision stating: “Today, the Supreme Court once again sided with politicians who believe they know better than you, who want to block you from seeing your trusted health care provider and making your own health care decisions,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Paige Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, called it “a grave injustice.” She said, “Gov. McMaster’s intent is clear: weaponize anti-abortion sentiment to deprive communities with low incomes of basic health care.”
There are only two Planned Parenthood clinics in South Carolina—one in Charleston, one in Columbia. Both offer critical services beyond abortion, and they accept Medicaid patients without limits. But in many parts of the state, there are no OB-GYNs at all.
Dr. Katherine Farris, chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, said earlier this year, “Even [those clinics] listed as a Medicaid provider… may have a wait list that is days, weeks or even months long.” Planned Parenthood, she said, fills that gap.
Anti-abortion groups cheered the ruling. Marjorie Dannenfelser, head of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said, “Planned Parenthood’s taxpayer-funded gravy train is swiftly coming to an end… Its days of posing as a ‘trusted health care provider’ are over.”
She falsely claimed that federal dollars go to abortion care—something already blocked by law.
This ruling sets a dangerous precedent. It opens the door for other states to follow South Carolina’s lead and kick Planned Parenthood out of Medicaid. And it aligns with the far-right’s Project 2025 playbook, which calls for a nationwide effort to gut reproductive health programs.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) warned, “The Supreme Court just gave the green light for Republican-led states to defund Planned Parenthood… Make no mistake: this attack is happening for no other reason than because Republican anti-abortion extremists are foaming at the mouth to shut down access to abortion care any way they can, no matter the consequences.”
If this trend continues, millions of Americans—especially poor women—could lose access to essential care.
