• Supreme Court rules 6-3 to allow states to bar Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood.
• The ruling affects access to non-abortion services like cancer screenings and contraception for low-income patients.
• Governor Henry McMaster's 2018 order to defund the organization was upheld, emphasizing state discretion over Medicaid providers.
• The decision is viewed as a significant victory for conservative efforts to defund reproductive healthcare providers.
• Critics warn the ruling will disproportionately harm low-income individuals and limit healthcare choices.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 26 that states can exclude Planned Parenthood from participating in Medicaid programs, effectively allowing South Carolina to defund the organization. This 6-3 decision resolved a significant legal challenge surrounding whether Medicaid recipients can sue to choose their healthcare providers, particularly when abortion services are involved, which Governor Henry McMaster justified by stating, "Taxpayer dollars must not directly or indirectly subsidize abortion providers" according to CBS News and NPR.

The ruling centers on a 2018 case in which Julie Edwards, a Medicaid patient relying on Planned Parenthood for essential healthcare services, sued after the state moved to defund the provider. The court's majority, led by Justice Neil Gorsuch, asserted that Medicaid patients do not have an "individual right" to sue when states disqualify certain providers, shifting the responsibility for compliance to the federal government. This decision overturns previous findings by lower courts that supported patient choice based on Medicaid provisions, according to HuffPost and Reuters.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissenting, warned that the ruling would deprive patients of significant healthcare access and undermine rights established under Medicaid. She emphasized that many patients may now lose their only means of obtaining critical care from qualified providers, marking a shift in healthcare access that some argue may disproportionately impact women and minorities in South Carolina, as noted by Los Angeles Times and ABC News.

The implications of this ruling extend beyond South Carolina, potentially allowing other states to adopt similar measures, thereby significantly reducing access to Medicaid-funded reproductive health services nationwide. Planned Parenthood has indicated it serves over 50,000 Medicaid beneficiaries in the state annually, primarily low-income patients who rely on its services for routine care, cancer screenings, and contraceptives, according to Newsweek and Al Jazeera.