Planned Parenthood South Atlantic has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to preserve Medicaid reimbursements for its South Carolina clinics, arguing that state actions targeting the organization threaten access to essential health services.
The amended complaint, filed Thursday, challenges executive orders issued by Gov. Henry McMaster that block Medicaid payments to providers offering abortion services, even though federal law already prohibits Medicaid funds from being used for abortions except in limited circumstances.
Planned Parenthood says the orders undermine access to contraception, cancer screenings, sexually transmitted infection testing, and annual exams for low-income patients.
“This case is about Planned Parenthood’s provision of essential health care services, other than abortion, to its patients in South Carolina,” the complaint states. “Excluding the provider from Medicaid will have a devastating impact on its ability to provide a wide range of non-abortion health care.”
Advocates argue the state’s policy is especially damaging in rural counties where OB-GYNs are scarce and many physicians decline to accept Medicaid due to low reimbursement rates. “Our government should be expanding Medicaid providers instead of kicking them out,” said Vicki Ringer, spokesperson for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, which oversees services in South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.
The legal challenge follows a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June that limited Medicaid recipients’ ability to sue states over provider access. That ruling stemmed from a South Carolina case filed after McMaster’s 2018 executive order and bolstered efforts to exclude Planned Parenthood from Medicaid funding.
Although a federal judge has temporarily blocked part of a new federal law that would bar Planned Parenthood from billing Medicaid nationwide, that order does not affect state-level restrictions. Missouri, Texas, and Arkansas have already succeeded in cutting off Medicaid funds to the group.
In South Carolina, Planned Parenthood operates two clinics, in Charleston and Columbia. While both provide abortions, the procedure is only permitted in the state up to six weeks of pregnancy, in medical emergencies, or in cases of rape or incest. Medicaid, by law, does not cover most abortions.
Planned Parenthood reports that nearly 400 Medicaid patients sought care at its South Carolina clinics last year. The complaint warns that further restrictions will likely lead patients to delay or forgo necessary medical services in a state already grappling with poor health outcomes, including one of the nation’s highest maternal mortality rates.
“For women in South Carolina, public health care is a matter of life or death,” the filing states. Advocates also caution that allowing Medicaid exclusions based on abortion services could set a precedent for political interference with other types of care, such as gender-affirming treatment.
The lawsuit names Eunice Medina, director of the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, as the defendant. It asks the court to declare McMaster’s orders and related funding measures unconstitutional and to ensure Planned Parenthood remains eligible for Medicaid reimbursement while the case is pending.
McMaster, who has long supported defunding Planned Parenthood, praised the Supreme Court’s recent ruling, saying it affirmed South Carolina’s authority to “protect the sanctity of life and defend our state’s values.”
Neither McMaster nor Medina responded immediately to requests for comment.
