Background

In 2018, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) issued an executive order that prohibited Planned Parenthood of South Atlantic from providing family planning services under Medicaid. State officials argued that "payment of taxpayer funds to abortion clinics, for any Justices Weigh Challenge to South Carolina's Bid to Defund Planned Parenthood purpose, results in the subsidy of abortion and the denial of the right to life."

McMaster's order was blocked in court following a lawsuit from a patient named Julie Edwards, who wanted to continue going to Planned Parenthood for birth control because her diabetes made pregnancy potentially dangerous. Edwards sued over a provision in Medicaid law that allows patients to choose their own healthcare provider.

Last year, a unanimous three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled the suit could proceed.

Supreme Court rules in favor of South Carolina

In April, the Supreme Court heard arguments in the case, focused specifically on whether Medicaid beneficiaries have a "right" to choose a preferred health provider and can sue when they do not.

"Deciding whether to permit private enforcement poses delicate policy questions involving competing costs and benefits — decisions for elected representatives, not judges," Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the majority opinion.

Gorsuch added that Medicaid "offers States a 'bargain': federal funds in exchange for compliance with congressionally imposed conditions."

"Congress knows how to give a grantee clear and unambiguous notice that, if it accepts federal funds, it may face private suits asserting an individual right to choose a medical provider," Gorsuch wrote, adding, "But that is not the law we have."

In the dissenting opinion, Justice Jackson said the ruling is "likely to result in tangible harm to real people."

"It will strip those South Carolinians — and countless other Medicaid recipients around the country — of a deeply personal freedom: the 'ability to decide who treats us at our most vulnerable,'" Jackson wrote.