The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday opened the door for states to block Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood for health services not related to abortions.
Maine, with Democratic Gov. Janet Mills strongly in favor of abortion rights and the House and Senate of the Legislature both controlled by Democrats, is extremely unlikely to stop Medicaid funding from going to Planned Parenthood services. But a future Maine administration opposed to abortion rights could choose to do so.
Of the 7,100 patients who received health care services at Planned Parenthood locations in Maine last year, 27% were Medicaid enrollees, according to the nonprofit.
Medicaid is already prohibited from funding abortions. But it can be used for a variety of reproductive health care services that Planned Parenthood offers, including primary care, screenings for cancer and sexually transmitted infections, birth control and vaccinations.
The case that the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday — Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic — stemmed from a dispute over whether the South Carolina state government could block Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood.
South Carolina forbade Medicaid recipients from choosing Planned Parenthood as their health care provider, essentially excluding the nonprofit from the Medicaid program. A South Carolina resident sued because she was barred from choosing her health care provider — in this case Planned Parenthood — and the case eventually made it to the Supreme Court.
“(Thursday’s) decision is the latest outcome of a systematic campaign to shut down Planned Parenthood. No other high-quality provider of care is subjected to these kinds of attacks,” Nicole Clegg, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, said in a written statement. “Every patient should have the fundamental right to decide which health care provider to trust with their care. Politicians are willing to put millions of people’s health at risk so that they can target Planned Parenthood simply because we provide abortion care.”
It was not immediately clear whether the high court ruling would apply to other abortion providers, such as Maine Family Planning.
Planned Parenthood operates clinics in Portland, Biddeford, Sanford and Topsham.
Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the 6-3 majority, wrote that lawsuits against states for failing to let patients choose their health care provider “can force governments to direct money away from public services and spend it instead on litigation. The job of resolving how best to weight those competing costs and benefits belongs to the the people’s elected representatives, not unelected judges.”
Kristen Waggoner, CEO and president of Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian advocacy group that opposes abortion, said in a written statement that “this is a massive win for life, women’s health and common sense.”
In dissent, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote that Thursday’s decision is “likely to result in tangible harm to real people” by depriving Medicaid recipients of the right to sue — the “only meaningful way of enforcing a right that Congress has expressly granted to them.”
Maine lawmakers this week approved $6 million in funding for Planned Parenthood and Maine Family Planning to help with funding shortfalls and to cover the cost of current services being offered.
The Legislature originally approved half of the $6 million request but later appropriated up to $3 million in additional spending during the final day of voting Wednesday. That funding request is now before Mills.
“The U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that opens the door to future restrictions on reproductive care, so this ($6 million) investment in the health of Maine people could not be more important or timely,” Senate Majority Leader Teresa Pierce, D-Falmouth, said in a statement.
In addition to the Supreme Court decision, a Republican budget bill pending in Congress would target Planned Parenthood by excluding the nonprofit from the Medicaid program. If it were to pass, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England would lose $5 million annually, or about 42% of the revenue that it brings in from patients.
