The United States Supreme Court has ruled that South Carolina has the legal right to remove Planned Parenthood from its Medicaid program. In a 6–3 decision released Thursday the justices said Medicaid recipients cannot sue states for removing certain providers from the program.

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion and said the law does not give private individuals the right to enforce such policies in court. The ruling overturns a lower court’s decision that had allowed a patient’s lawsuit against South Carolina to move forward.

Court Says Congress Must Decide Medicaid Enforcement Powers

The case began when South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster signed an executive order in 2018 to block abortion clinics from receiving Medicaid funds. Planned Parenthood challenged the move through patient Julie Edwards who said the policy violated her federal right to choose medical providers.

The Supreme Court disagreed and said federal law does not clearly define who qualifies as a Medicaid provider. Gorsuch emphasized that decisions about enforcement must come from Congress and not private citizens through the courts.

He explained that letting private lawsuits determine state-level Medicaid policy can divert public resources away from services. 

“New rights for some mean new duties for others,” Gorsuch wrote.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson led the dissent and said Congress clearly intended to give Medicaid patients a choice. She argued that the law’s language and history support patients’ ability to sue when their provider is disqualified.

Despite the opposition the decision gives states more freedom to decide which providers qualify for Medicaid reimbursement. It also strengthens the ability of Republican-led states to defund clinics that offer abortion services or are affiliated with them.