Supreme Court allows states to cut Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood

The Supreme Court has ruled that states can block Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid money for health services without facing lawsuits from patients. The 6-3 opinion was written by Justice Neil Gorsuch and joined by the rest of the court's conservatives. The ruling comes as Republicans are pushing to defund the organization across the country. The justices found that while Medicaid law allows people to choose their own provider, this does not make it a right enforceable in court. The court's decision closes off Planned Parenthood's primary court path to keeping Medicaid funding in place, which is through patient lawsuits. The organization's officials say the decision will hamper access to care such as preventive screenings for 1 million Medicaid recipients in South Carolina. Other conservative states are expected to follow South Carolina's lead with funding cuts, potentially creating a "backdoor abortion ban". The ruling is likely to result in tangible harm to real people, according to Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who wrote a dissenting opinion. Public health groups have said that lawsuits are the only real way that Medicaid patients have been able to enforce their ability to choose their own doctor, and losing that ability is expected to reduce access to healthcare. The decision is a significant blow to Planned Parenthood, which receives a small fraction of South Carolina's total Medicaid spending, but provides essential health services to many low-income patients.