Planned Parenthood has filed a federal lawsuit against South Carolina in the wake of Gov. Henry McMaster’s executive order banning abortion providers from the state’s list of Medicaid providers.
Planned Parenthood South Atlantic argues that Medicaid patients have the right to choose Planned Parenthood as their healthcare provider, reports the Post and Courier. The abortion facility also contends that South Carolina already has a shortage of healthcare providers.
Jenny Black, the Planned Parenthood affiliate’s CEO, said Planned Parenthood and its patients are being “irreparably harmed” by the governor’s order.
“The women and men who come to Planned Parenthood for healthcare aren’t doing so to make a political statement,” she said. “Every day that this continues, both (Planned Parenthood) and our patients are irreparably harmed.”
Brian Symmes, a spokesman for McMaster, said in a statement:
Gov. McMaster ordered (Health and Human Services) to continue reimbursing family planning providers because he recognizes how important those services are. But like millions of South Carolinians, he believes in the fundamental right to life for unborn children and does not believe tax dollars should go to organizations that perform elective abortions, and he will fight this foolish lawsuit with everything he has.
In his executive order, the Republican governor made a clear distinction between family planning services and abortion.
“Although the state should not contract with abortion clinics for family planning services, the state also should not deny South Carolinians’ access to necessary medical care and important women’s health and family planning services, which are provided by a variety of other non-governmental entities and governmental agencies,” McMaster said.
Federally qualified healthcare facilities in South Carolina that accept Medicaid as payment and provide more expansive health services than abortion clinics can be accessed at getyourcare.org. Since 2015, such federally qualified healthcare providers outnumbered Planned Parenthood clinics 268 to 2 in South Carolina.
McMaster also ordered the state’s health agency to use funds left over from last year’s budget for health care services for low-income individuals in South Carolina. The governor vetoed nearly $16 million for low-income individuals from the coming year’s budget in order to cut Planned Parenthood’s funding. The excess funds from last year’s budget are providing monies for low-income services without funding abortion clinics.
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