Supreme Court Refuses To Hear Planned Parenthood Case

A demonstrator opposed to the Senate Republican health-care holds a sign that reads 'I Stand With Planned Parenthood' while marching near the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C

The Supreme Court declined to hear the appeals of two states who had lost lower court rulings after they attempted to cut Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood. Louisiana and Kansas tried to cut off funding to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers after the release of controversial, and since debunked, videos that appeared to show workers for Planned Parenthood trying to sell fetal tissue for research purposes. 

Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Samuel Alito dissented from the majority and said they believe that High Court should hear the case. 

“Five Circuits have held that Medicaid recipients have such a right, and one Circuit has held that they do not,” Thomas wrote. “The last three Circuits to consider the question have themselves been divided.”

Thomas added that the case is not about abortion rights, but was about whether individuals have the standing to sue the government over how they choose to allocate funds. 

"But these cases are not about abortion rights," he said. "They are about private rights of action under the Medicaid Act. Resolving the question presented here would not even affect Planned Parenthood's ability to challenge the states' decisions; it concerns only the rights of individual Medicaid patients to bring their own suits."

Photo: Getty Images


Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content