WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) – Sixty-eight Republican members of Congress signed onto an amicus brief filed July 5 in support of South Carolina’s right to exclude Planned Parenthood and other abortion businesses from the state Medicaid program.
In March, the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that South Carolina had to restore Medicaid funds to Planned Parenthood after deeming the abortion giant not qualified, claiming Medicaid recipients had a right to the provider of their choice. The U.S. Supreme Court had previously ordered the Fourth Circuit to reconsider its prior ruling to that effect in light of its Talevski ruling, which concerned whether the Federal Nursing Home Reform Act (FNHRA) created federal rights healthcare recipients could enforce via lawsuits.
“Congress did not unambiguously create a right for Medicaid recipients to drag states into federal court to challenge those decisions, so no such right exists,” Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel and vice president of appellate advocacy John Bursch said. “The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Talevski makes that even clearer.”
The brief to the Supreme Court, headed by South Carolina Republican Rep. Ralph Norman, Sen. Lindsey Graham, and Sen. Tim Scott and signed by a total of seven senators and 58 House members, argues that the Fourth Circuit’s decision “will open the door to costly and unwarranted litigation and will undermine Congress’s prerogative to decide whether a statute should be enforced through private litigation.”
“Congress alone can create private rights of action. Amici believe that because Congress has not spoken clearly here, Section 1983 cannot support Planned Parenthood’s or its client’s claims to a private right of action under the Medicaid Act’s any-qualified-provider provision,” it argues. “Congress knows how to create a private right of action, but it did not do so here. Amici therefore urge this Court to grant the petition and reverse the decision.”
“Private parties like Planned Parenthood have no right to undermine congressional intent by forcing states to say that Planned Parenthood is a qualified Medicaid provider,” Norman said. “South Carolina has every right to determine what qualifies and disqualifies Medicaid healthcare providers operating within our state. That was precisely the intent of Congress. My hope is the Court will see this lawsuit for what it truly is: a misguided attempt to undermine that authority.”
“The people of South Carolina have made it clear they support the right to life, and therefore, should not be forced to spend taxpayer dollars to fund abortion providers like Planned Parenthood,” South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster added. “I thank Congressman Norman, Senator Graham, Senator Scott, and the 65 other members of Congress who are standing with South Carolina to oppose this federal overreach and protect our ability to defend our values.”
Fourteen states currently ban all or most abortions. But the abortion lobby is working feverishly to cancel out those deterrent effects by deregulated interstate distribution of abortion pills, legal protection and financial support of interstate abortion travel, constructing new abortion facilities near borders shared by pro-life and pro-abortion states, making liberal states sanctuaries for those who want to evade or violate the laws of more pro-life neighbors, and enshrining abortion “rights” in state constitutions.
Taxpayer funding is key to perpetuating the abortion industry in the post-Roe v. Wade landscape. Nationally, Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s annual report released in April reveals that the organization committed 392,715 abortions in the most recent reporting period, a record number. Planned Parenthood received $699.3 million in government grants and reimbursements in 2023, a 4.2 percent rise over its funding the previous year.