Planned Parenthood files new challenge to stay on SC’s Medicaid list for non-abortion services

COLUMBIA — Planned Parenthood is again challenging South Carolina’s ability to remove its clinics from Medicaid’s provider list for non-abortion health care services.

The nonprofit’s filing Thursday marks the latest in a seven-year-old case stemming from Gov. Henry McMaster’s 2018 executive order that sought to ban all Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood’s two clinics in the state.

Planned Parenthood immediately sued, and the lawsuit blocked the directive as the case bounced back and forth in the courts.

US Supreme Court allows SC to remove Planned Parenthood from list of Medicaid providers

But a ruling in June by the U.S. Supreme Court seemed to settle it and, on Thursday morning, a lower court officially gave South Carolina permission to carry out the order.

Within hours, Planned Parenthood filed for a new challenge. It wants the courts to consider a different argument and is seeking to again block the order while the amended complaint plays out. But a federal judge must first allow the complaint to be amended.

McMaster’s spokesman called it “nothing more than a desperate, last-gasp attempt to relitigate an issue that has already been decided.”

“The U.S. Supreme Court has made clear that South Carolina has the right to exclude abortion providers from our Medicaid program,” said Brandon Charochak.

But Planned Parenthood contends the nation’s high court didn’t directly address the state’s ability to exclude the provider. The ruling involved who sued. Justices ruled Medicaid patients don’t have the right to sue to see their doctor of choice.

The new filing removes the patient from the complaint.

Rather than sue on someone’s behalf, Planned Parenthood’s new filing argues the state is violating the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause by unfairly targeting the nonprofit.

The case is not about abortion — not directly, anyway — but whether South Carolinians can use their Medicaid health coverage at Planned Parenthood for services such as breast and cervical cancer screenings, birth control, and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections.

“What started as a crusade against abortion has devolved into an even greater assault on essential, preventive care,” Paige Johnson, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, said in a statement. “The cost of this political attack will be the health and well-being of hardworking South Carolinians — cancers will go undetected, STIs will go untreated, and people won’t have the birth control they need to plan their futures.”

Planned Parenthood is fighting GOP efforts on multiple fronts.

McMaster’s order, as well as directives approved as part of the state budget ever since, are similar to efforts in Washington to defund the organization entirely because it provides abortions. A provision of Republicans’ “big, beautiful” law signed last month barred Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood for one year.

A federal judge has blocked that provision from taking effect in other states, allowing patients elsewhere to continue going to Planned Parenthood for contraceptives and other services normally covered by Medicaid while that challenge plays out.

That order did not apply to South Carolina.

Reacting to the newest filing, a spokesman for Attorney General Alan Wilson said he “celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision … and is confident South Carolina’s position will prevail.” Robert Kittle added: “South Carolina’s a proudly pro-life state.”