“In 2018, South Carolina rightly decided to make its federal and state Medicaid dollars available for real, life-affirming health care options instead of using them to fund abortion giant Planned Parenthood,” said Rep. Chris Smith, Co-Chair of the House Pro-Life Caucus.

“Planned Parenthood, ‘Child Abuse Incorporated,’ immediately took to the courts to try to block South Carolina’s right to administer the Medicaid program and not subsidize organizations that pay for elective abortion,” said Smith.

“Taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize through Medicaid an industry that regards the precious life of an unborn child as analogous to a tumor to be excised or a disease to be vanquished,” said Smith. “States should be able to invest in real health care options, including for women who need help and their families.”

Smith’s comments came in response to the oral arguments held today at the Supreme Court in the case of Medina v. Planned Parenthood. In 2018, South Carolina declared abortion clinics ineligible to receive Medicaid funding based on their abortion activities and the narrow range of services they offer. Following South Carolina’s determination, it was sued by Planned Parenthood, which kills 1000 unborn babies every day.

“The multibillion-dollar abortion industry cleverly markets the sophistry of choice while going to extraordinary lengths to ignore, trivialize and cover-up the battered baby-victim,” said Smith. “However, the truth is that the child decapitation, dismemberment and starvation that occur at Planned Parenthood is not health care.”

Medicaid reimbursements are by far Planned Parenthood’s largest federal funding source, providing $1.5 billion in reimbursements nationwide over three years. 

“Earlier this year, I joined a Congressional amicus brief—led by many of my colleagues in the South Carolina delegation— offering a federal policy perspective from Members of Congress,” said Smith. “It showed that §1983 of the Medicaid Act does not provide Medicaid recipients with a privately enforceable right.  Congress gave states the power to decide which providers will be qualified to offer services. Failure to recognize this fact would increase litigation, create budgetary uncertainty, and stifle the innovation Congress intended to offer the states.”

“I want to express my strong support and gratitude to the leadership of the State of South Carolina and for the brilliant work of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and its lead attorneys,” said Smith.

During consideration of this case, Rep. Smith joined three other amicus briefs supporting South Carolina’s determination that Planned Parenthood does not qualify to receive Medicaid funding: a brief in April 2020, a brief in May 2022, and a brief in July 2024.

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