South Carolina files opening brief with US Supreme Court for permission to defund Planned Parenthood

By Cassy Fiano-Chesser - Posted at LiveAction:

The state of South Carolina has filed its opening brief in a case requesting the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on whether or not it can defund Planned Parenthood.

Last year, the Supreme Court decided it would hear the Kerr v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic case, now known as Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic. Robert Kerr retired in November from the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (SCDHHS), and the new interim director is Eunice Medina, with whom ADF is now continuing the case. ADF’s opening brief asks the Supreme Court to consider:

Whether the Medicaid Act’s any-qualified provider provision unambiguously confers a private right upon a Medicaid beneficiary to choose a specific provider.

The case stemmed from a lawsuit brought by Julie Edwards, who sued the state of South Carolina because Medicaid would not pay for her to get birth control at Planned Parenthood. The Hyde Amendment bans federal funding from being used to pay for abortions, though individual states can choose to fund abortions. In South Carolina, Governor Henry McMaster issued an executive order in 2018 cutting off state funding from Planned Parenthood, as well as every other abortion business in the state.

Edwards claimed that Medicaid allows patients to go to the provider of their choice for health care. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit agreed with Planned Parenthood, at which point Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) requested that the Supreme Court step in.

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