Planned Parenthood files legal challenge to protect Medicaid funding in South Carolina

A new legal challenge from Planned Parenthood seeks to preserve Medicaid payments for its health centers in South Carolina after a Supreme Court decision put the federal funding in jeopardy.

On Thursday, Planned Parenthood South Atlantic filed an amended complaint in federal court challenging the constitutionality of executive orders from Republican Gov. Henry McMaster that block Medicaid reimbursements for organizations providing abortions, even though the funds are used to provide other medical care. The South Carolina clinics provide services such as contraception, cancer screenings, annual exams and testing for sexually transmitted diseases.

“This case is about Planned Parenthood’s provision of essential health care services, other than abortionto its patients in South Carolina,” the complaint states, noting that terminating the provider from Medicaid “will have a devastating impact on its ability to provide a wide range of non-abortion health care.”

The state’s action is especially harmful because many counties lack OB-GYN providers, the complaint states, and some providers are reluctant to accept Medicaid due to its low reimbursement rates.

“Our government should be expanding Medicaid providers, recruiting Medicaid providers instead of kicking them out,” said Vicki Ringer, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, which serves South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.

A Medicaid patient in South Carolina sued in the wake of McMaster’s 2018 executive order in a case that reached the Supreme Court. In June, justices ruled that Medicaid recipients could not sue to ensure a specific provider, supporting the state’s push to block Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funding.

This new battle comes as the national organization is also trying to fend off a new federal law that would ban Planned Parenthood clinics from billing Medicaid for patient care. A federal judge has temporarily blocked that provision from going into effect.

But that order did not apply to state-level actions such as those in South Carolina. Three other states — Missouri, Texas and Arkansas — have already succeeded in barring Medicaid funding from the group, according to Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood South Atlantic filed the complaint against Eunice Medina, director of the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, which administers the state’s Medicaid program.

The provider is asking the court to find McMaster’s executive orders unconstitutional along with state appropriation bills that single out the organization. Attorneys are also asking the court to allow Planned Parenthood to keep receiving Medicaid payments as the case proceeds.

Neither Medina nor McMaster could immediately be reached for comment.

McMaster previously praised the Supreme Court’s ruling, saying his administration “took a stand to protect the sanctity of life and defend South Carolina’s authority and values.”

Planned Parenthood has two clinics in the state, in Charleston and Columbia. Although they provide abortions in South Carolina, with rare exception Medicaid funds can’t legally be used for the procedure, which is only legal in the state in the first six weeks of pregnancy, in certain medical emergencies and in cases of rape and incest.

Last year, the organization said its South Carolina clinics saw almost 400 Medicaid patients, providing a range of health care services. The complaint warns that Medicaid patients may forgo care if Planned Parenthood is forced to turn away patients in a state that already struggles with dismal health outcomes, including a high maternal mortality rate.

“For women in South Carolina, public health care is a matter of life or death,” the filing states.

Apart from the harm to patients, advocates argue, allowing funds to be restricted for providers based on their support for abortion rights opens the door for politicians to cut off funding based on other services a provider might offer, such as gender-affirming care.

“We all deserve the dignity of being able to pick our doctor,” Ringer said, “and not be denied the choice of a doctor for a political agenda.”