Power to Decide Condemns Supreme Court Decision That Will Leave Millions of Medicaid Patients Without Access to Care

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Today, in a 6-3 decision in Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, the Supreme Court ruled that a Medicaid patient in South Carolina cannot sue to receive care at Planned Parenthood health centers–effectively barring Medicaid patients from getting care at Planned Parenthood in the state.

In response, Power to Decide CEO and practicing OB-GYN, Dr. Raegan McDonald-Mosley, released the following statement:  

“This is a heartbreaking decision that will ultimately leave millions of people without a place to go for basic health care, such as contraception, STI testing and treatment, and cervical and breast cancer screenings.

“Right now, 19 million women in need of publicly funded family planning–many of whom rely on Medicaid–live in contraceptive deserts and lack reasonable access to a clinic with the full range of contraceptive methods. But this statistic belies an even worse reality. In many states, efforts to bar patients from accessing basic health care at Planned Parenthood health centers have left them with nowhere to go. We saw this in Texas, where access to contraception in the Healthy Texas Women program dropped by 56% after patients were no longer allowed to get care at Planned Parenthood. Meanwhile, the state’s already terrible maternal mortality rate spiked.

“With today’s decision, the Court has opened the door for more states to follow South Carolina and Texas, effectively denying millions of Medicaid beneficiaries the care that should be accessible to them. As a practicing OB-GYN who regularly takes care of patients who rely on Medicaid, I know how vital it is to have access, and how difficult that access was even before today’s decision.

“This is an incredibly sad day. Communities that already struggle, particularly Black and brown people, young people, those living in rural areas and across the South, will suffer needlessly because of today’s decision. They won’t just struggle to meet their immediate health needs, they will also miss out on important screenings that could help prevent serious issues down the line. Meanwhile, Congress continues to consider barring all Medicaid patients nationwide from receiving care at Planned Parenthood. This is causing a manufactured national reproductive health care crisis.

"Power to Decide will continue to do all we can to support people seeking care. Our Bedsider.org and AbortionFinder.org resources are here because everyone deserves access to the information and care they need.”

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Power to Decide is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to advance sexual and reproductive well-being for all by providing trusted information, expanding access to quality services, and catalyzing culture change.