The US Supreme Court appears likely to side with Planned Parenthood in a South Carolina case testing whether Medicaid patients can sue for access to non-abortion health care from the organization’s medical providers.
Federal law already prevents states from using Medicaid funds to cover abortions, but abortion opponents have tried to stop Planned Parenthood from receiving government money for other healthcare services. The Trump administration recently notified nine Planned Parenthood affiliates of its plan to withhold funding as part of the Title X program.
The case before the Supreme Court focuses on whether a provision in the federal Medicaid Act allows individuals to sue for access to their provider of choice. The justices are considering whether states must ensure that patients can see any qualified and willing provider, and whether this means allowing patients to go to court if they’re denied access.
Liberal justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson suggested that Congress clearly established an obligation on the part of states to allow patients to choose their doctor. However, other justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., pressed South Carolina’s lawyer about the availability of meaningful recourse for patients.
The Supreme Court has typically set a high bar for allowing lawsuits against the government, but advocates for Planned Parenthood argue that this case could affect access to critical medical services like birth control and cancer screenings for low-income patients.
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/04/02/planned-parenthood-south-carolina-supreme-court-abortion-funding