(Via The National Women’s Political Caucus South Carolina Chapter – June 27, 2025) Yesterday, the Supreme Court dealt another devastating blow in its ongoing assault on reproductive rights. In a 6–3 ruling, the Court’s ultraconservative majority sided with South Carolina in Medina v. Planned Parenthood, giving the state the power to remove Planned Parenthood — and all reproductive health providers — from its Medicaid program. Medicaid beneficiaries had been able to receive services under a law that allows them to choose any qualified provider. This Supreme Court decision ends that.
Understand, this is not just an attack on abortion. It’s an attack on access to essential health care — cancer screenings, contraception, STI testing — for low-income women and their families, simply because their provider also offers abortion services.
For decades, Planned Parenthood and independent clinics have been lifelines in communities across the country. Now, this South Carolina decision opens the door for other states to sever that support entirely.
Right now, Congress is considering legislation that would strip federal funding from Planned Parenthood nationwide — putting 200 clinics at risk.
Justice Gorsuch’s majority opinion made one thing alarmingly clear: Medicaid patients can no longer sue if states deny them access to the qualified providers guaranteed under federal law.
In plain terms: states can now discriminate, and patients are left powerless.
Who will be harmed the most? Women. Especially in rural regions, where 60% of reproductive clinics have already disappeared. Poor women. Women of color. Teen girls. Mothers. Survivors of sexual assault.
This is not coincidental — it’s strategic; a broader campaign to gut every remaining protection for women’s reproductive freedom. Contact your representative in Congress today.
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The National Women’s Political Caucus, founded in 1971, is the oldest national, multi-partisan, grassroots organization dedicated to identifying, recruiting, training, electing, and supporting pro-choice women candidates for elected and appointed office.
