In a step toward defunding Planned Parenthood, the Supreme Court reviewed a case to do just that at the state level.
In 2018, the governor of South Carolina declared that Planned Parenthood is unqualified to receive Medicaid funds. Thus arose Kerr v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, now named Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, after a new acting director took over South Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services. Following lengthy litigation in lower courts, the Supreme Court agreed in December that it would review the state’s case to remove Planned Parenthood definitively from among Medicaid fund recipients.
Earlier this week, several parties, including more than a dozen other states, submitted amicus briefs on behalf of South Carolina.
State-determined abortion decisions are the purported goal of the Trump administration. And no one can say a decision to defund Planned Parenthood is not one that defunds abortion itself: Abortion is clearly Planned Parenthood’s priority. The organization is the country’s largest abortion advocate, and from 2021 to 2022, its abortion count increased by 5% to a total of almost 393,000 for the year.
Incredibly, Planned Parenthood received $700 million of federal funding in its most recent fiscal year. The need to defund the abortion giant at the federal level is critical but has not been done. However, as states take motions to remove Planned Parenthood’s funding themselves, we are seeing a good start.
For one, the effort somewhat mimics the process by which the court overturned Roe v. Wade. The Medina case likewise involves one deep-red state represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, the Christian advocacy group that helped overturn Roe.
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Now, conservative states are living in the comfort of the overall majority, not just the security of a mostly conservative court. Recall that President Donald Trump won the popular vote. Even if the majority of Americans support abortion, Trump’s victory gave Republican-led states confidence to pursue pro-life agendas in a quasi-conservative atmosphere.
The president’s refrain of “common sense” persists all the while. Department of Government Efficiency proceedings, for example, are presented in this light as the administration aims for more straightforward spending. Defunding Planned Parenthood could fit into this frame, too. One can look at the matter as a simple question of moral evil, as one of dollars wasted on a dysfunctional organization, or both. As advocates petition DOGE head Elon Musk to hear out their argument to defund the abortion giant, state-level pursuits are a good precedent for his convincing.