No longer can Planned Parenthood rely on legal activism to preserve its taxpayer revenue. The responsibility now shifts to Congress to do what the states have started.
No longer can Planned Parenthood rely on legal activism to preserve its taxpayer revenue. The responsibility now shifts to Congress to do what the states have started.
L ast week, the Supreme Court issued a long-overdue rebuke to Planned Parenthood’s legal campaign to force taxpayers to subsidize the abortion industry. In Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, the Court upheld South Carolina’s decision to disqualify Planned Parenthood from its Medicaid program — affirming that states, not activist courts, control who is eligible to participate in Medicaid.
The 6–3 ruling is a major victory not only for the people of South Carolina but for every American who believes in the rule of law, fiscal responsibility, and the fundamental right to life. For years, Planned Parenthood used aggressive litigation to pressure states into funding its dangerous operations. Now, the Supreme Court has said what pro-life Americans have been saying for decades: Planned Parenthood has no right to taxpayer dollars.
South Carolina made its position clear back in 2018. The state enacted protections for unborn children with a heartbeat and barred public funds from going to entities that perform abortions. That included Planned Parenthood. But the state also ensured that women had continued access to care through a robust network of more than 100 community health centers and countless private physicians and pregnancy-resource centers. In fact, the state has 116 community health centers compared with just two Planned Parenthood centers.
Despite all of the evidence against it, Planned Parenthood chose to sue. Its legal theory was astonishingly broad. It chose to challenge its disqualification on behalf of any potential Medicaid patient who might prefer it over the state’s many qualified providers. The Court correctly rejected this idea.
Writing with the majority, Justice Thomas noted that the Medicaid Act does not allow private individuals — or abortion businesses bootstrapping onto hypothetical patients — to sue states over their provider decisions. Instead, there are established administrative review channels. Disliking the outcome doesn’t create a new constitutional right to override state discretion.
In plain terms: Planned Parenthood doesn’t get to sue its way back into Medicaid just because it’s politically well-connected and litigious. The Court’s decision restores proper balance to the Medicaid program — a joint federal-state effort in which states retain meaningful authority.
But Medina is about more than legal standing. It’s about exposing the abortion industry’s long-running attempt to cloak itself in the language of “health care” while operating as a billion-dollar enterprise built around abortion, politics, and profit. Planned Parenthood receives more than $2 million per day from taxpayers — totaling $529 million annually from Medicaid alone. That amounts to nearly 40 percent of its total revenue.
What do taxpayers get for this investment? Fewer health services, more abortions, and a string of scandals. In the past year, Planned Parenthood performed more than 400,000 abortions while cutting its non-abortion services drastically. Pap smears are down more than 50 percent, and cancer screenings overall continue to plummet. Meanwhile, the number of abortions and trans treatments continue to increase. A recent New York Times exposé revealed dangerous and degrading conditions in its facilities. In the article, staffers from across the country talk about open sewage and botched abortions. Just this year, Planned Parenthood was responsible for a tragic death following a late-term abortion procedure.
Staffers complained that Planned Parenthood headquarters explicitly kept donor funds from affiliates, barring them from improving medical standards. Instead, they exposed the fact that leadership poured millions into political campaigns, lobbying and — you guessed it — lawsuits. This is not a health care provider in any meaningful sense. It is a political machine, and it treats Medicaid as its ATM.
South Carolina didn’t fall for it. Under Governor Henry McMaster’s leadership, the state stood firm in its commitment to life, accountability, and fiscal integrity. It carefully replaced abortion businesses with community health centers and expanded care options for low-income women and families. Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit was not about protecting access to anything — it was about preserving a stream of taxpayer funding they believe they are entitled to. The Court disagreed.
This ruling is also a preview of the national reckoning that must come next. While Medina affirms that states can exclude abortion providers from Medicaid, it doesn’t resolve the broader issue: Why are taxpayers still forced to send more than half a billion dollars a year to the abortion industry through Medicaid at the federal level?
That’s where the One Big Beautiful Bill comes in — a federal budget-reconciliation measure that would end Medicaid funding for abortion businesses nationwide. This legislation is not only possible; it’s necessary. And with a pro-life majority in Congress and a willing president, it is within reach.
This Court decision has delivered a major victory for Americans. No longer can Planned Parenthood rely on legal activism to preserve its taxpayer revenue. The responsibility now shifts to Congress to do what the states have started: defund Big Abortion once and for all.
Women, children, and families deserve better than an industry that profits from loss and litigates to protect its bottom line. Community health centers, pregnancy-resource centers, and private providers offer a compassionate, life-affirming alternative — and they outnumber Planned Parenthood 15 to 1 nationwide.
The law is clear. States can prioritize real health care over abortion businesses. Now it’s time for Washington to finish the job.