Anti-abortion protestors outside the US Supreme Court

The US Supreme Court cleared the way on Thursday for states to potentially cut off funding for Planned Parenthood, one of the nation's largest abortion providers.

Planned Parenthood is currently barred from receiving federal cash for abortion care however the 6-3 ruling would likewise allow states to cut off reimbursements for other medical services it offers to low-income Americans under the Medicaid program.

The 3 liberal justices on the top court dissented.

The case stems from an executive order provided by South Carolina's Republican guv Henry McMaster in 2018 cutting off Medicaid moneying to the 2 Planned Parenthood centers in the state.

The Medicaid reimbursements were not abortion-related, but McMaster said supplying any financing to Planned Parenthood amounts to a taxpayer "aid of abortion," which is banned in South Carolina for ladies who are more than six weeks pregnant.

Planned Parenthood, which offers a broad range of reproductive health services, and a South Carolina lady struggling with diabetes, submitted suit against the state that Medicaid patients deserve to get care from any certified company.

An appeals court ruled that Planned Parenthood can not be omitted from the state's Medicaid program and South Carolina attracted the Supreme Court, where conservatives wield a 6-3 majority.

The court ruled that a Medicaid client can not take legal action against the state to get medical care from a supplier of their choosing.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, in a dissent signed up with by the two other liberal justices, disagreed.

"Congress enacted the Medicaid Act's free-choice-of-provider arrangement to make sure that Medicaid recipients have the right to choose their own physicians," Jackson said. "Today's choice is likely to result in tangible damage to genuine individuals."

The Supreme Court ruling was welcomed by the anti-abortion group SBA Pro-Life America, which called it a "significant win for children and their moms."

It clears the method for South Carolina and other states "to stop moneying big abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood in their Medicaid programs," it said on X.

Paige Johnson, president of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, called the ruling a "grave injustice" and said it "promises to send South Carolina deeper into a health care crisis."
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The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 case that established federal protections for abortion gain access to, in June 2022.

Since then, more than 20 of the 50 US states have enforced strict limitations on abortion, or perhaps straight-out restrictions.
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