Democrats are once again confronting their worst nightmare at the Supreme Court.
This fight will be one for the ages.
And the Supreme Court agreed to hear one case that struck fear in the hearts of Democrats.
Can states defund Planned Parenthood?
Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas, Missouri, and South Carolina all passed laws defunding Planned Parenthood by banning the abortion mill from receiving Medicaid funding.
These common-sense laws banning taxpayer-funding of abortion are in accordance with federal law, which prohibits Medicaid dollars from paying for abortions.
“Planned Parenthood operates two facilities in the state, one in Charleston and the other in Columbia, and provides hundreds of Medicaid patients with services like physicals, cancer and other health screenings, pregnancy testing and contraception. Federal law prohibits Medicaid from paying for abortions except in cases of rape or incest, or to save the life of the mother,” CBS reports.
Planned Parenthood patient Julie Edwards sued South Carolina, arguing that she had a right to a taxpayer-funded abortion under the Medicaid Act that allows her to choose her healthcare provider.
A three-judge panel on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the insane idea that a taxpayer-funded abortion is a Constitutionally-guaranteed right.
“This case is, and always has been, about whether Congress conferred an individually enforceable right for Medicaid beneficiaries to freely choose their healthcare provider. Preserving access to Planned Parenthood and other providers means preserving an affordable choice and quality care for an untold number of mothers and infants in South Carolina,” Judge Harvie Wilkinson wrote.
The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case to answer the question of whether “the Medicaid Act’s any-qualified provider provision unambiguously confers a private right upon a Medicaid beneficiary to choose a specific provider.”
This should be an open and shut case.
In the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, the Supreme Court ruled there was no Constitutional right to an abortion.
The court kicked the decision back to the states and left it up to them to pass Pro-Life laws.
If there is no Constitutional right to an abortion, there is no legal standard under which there can be a Constitutional right to a taxpayer-funded abortion.
The conservative majority on the Supreme Court should clearly answer this question with a resounding “no.”
Any other answer means states will be forced to fund abortion in violation of federal law.
That’s because money is fungible.
Planned Parenthood and other abortion mills getting taxpayer money to pay for other healthcare services frees up their other revenue streams to pay for aborting innocent babies.
Pro-Life states like South Carolina rightly want to turn off that spigot of money.
The question really before the Supreme Court is does a Constitutional right to a taxpayer-funded abortion exist?
A 2023 Marist poll found that 58 percent of Americans oppose taxpayer-funding of abortion.
The court has the legal and political cover to do the right thing.
