Statement by National NOW President Christian F. Nunes
In another 6-3 decision, the anti-abortion care majority on the U.S. Supreme Court has struck again, paving the way for South Carolina to kick Planned Parenthood out of its Medicaid program. What starts in South Carolina can now spread to other states, where extremist legislatures have long been obsessed with shuttering clinics and banning all abortion care.
The decision in Medina v Planned Parenthood South Atlantic reversed lower courts that ruled Planned Parenthood is qualified to provide Medicaid services, under the federal rules that say Medicaid will reimburse “any qualified medical provider” for non-abortion services, and guarantees patients can choose their doctors.
Planned Parenthood has long been a reliable source for routine medical services for low-income residents such as physical exams, contraceptive care, cancer screenings and more. But the Supreme Court sided with South Carolina’s claim that those essential services only “free up other funds to provide more abortions.”
What dangerous nonsense! And now that danger is spreading to the dozens of states that want to follow in South Carolina’s footsteps.
Of the 2.4 million people treated at Planned Parenthood each year, almost half use Medicaid. Today the Supreme Court has again put women and low-income Americans in danger, in order to serve a purely political agenda. This decision has nothing to do with women’s health, and everything to do with targeting and eliminating women’s rights.
