Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed their opening brief with the U.S. Supreme Court Monday in Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic. The case could decide whether pro-life states like South Carolina can direct Medicaid funds—funds intended to help low-income individuals obtain necessary medical assistance—away from abortion providers like Planned Parenthood.

Representing the director of the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, ADF attorneys asked the Supreme Court to take the case after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled against the state.

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“Taxpayer dollars should never be used to fund facilities that make a profit off abortion,” said ADF Senior Counsel and Vice President of Appellate Advocacy John Bursch. “State officials should be free to determine that Planned Parenthood and other entities that peddle abortion are not qualified to receive taxpayer funding through Medicaid. Congress did not create a right for Medicaid recipients to drag states into federal court to challenge those decisions. Nor did Congress intend for federal courts to second guess states’ decisions about which providers are qualified to receive Medicaid funding.”

“The Medicaid Act is not a civil-rights statute. It is a program that anticipates cooperative federalism—‘federal and state actors working together … to carry out the statute’s aims.’ Unsurprisingly, the Act focuses on that relationship between the states and the federal government—not the creation of individual healthcare rights,” the opening brief states. “To hold otherwise would encroach upon the executive and legislative branches’ prerogatives while increasing the cost to the states of providing medical care to their neediest citizens.”

After South Carolina determined that Planned Parenthood was not qualified to receive taxpayer funding under its Medicaid program, a federal district court forced the state to permanently restore Planned Parenthood’s funding. ADF attorneys appealed to the 4th Circuit, which ruled against allowing the state to terminate Planned Parenthood as a qualified Medicaid provider.

ADF attorneys then filed a petition with the Supreme Court asking it to hear the case and affirm that the Medicaid Act does not create a private right for Medicaid recipients to challenge a state’s decision that a specific provider like Planned Parenthood is not qualified to receive taxpayer funding. The Supreme Court granted that petition and sent the case back to the 4th Circuit for further consideration after its decision in Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County v. Talevski. The 4th Circuit again ruled against South Carolina, prompting another petition to the Supreme Court.

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