EMILYs List Statement on U.S. Supreme Court Allowing States to Block Medicaid Patients from Accessing Care At Planned Parenthood
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a decision in Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, allowing the state of South Carolina to block Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood because it provides abortions. This decision means South Carolinians enrolled in Medicaid may no longer be able to use their coverage at Planned Parenthood for birth control, cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, and other preventive health care. It opens the door to other Republican-led states to follow suit and threatens access to sexual and reproductive care for up to 70 million people with Medicaid coverage across the country.
EMILYs List President Jessica Mackler released the following statement condemning the decision:
“Republicans keep proving that the lives of American people are just collateral damage to reach their final goal: ban abortion nationwide.
“This decision from the U.S. Supreme Court is yet another backdoor attempt to ban abortion, and it rips away essential health care from the most vulnerable. It’s not only an injustice, it’s a blueprint by Republicans to chip away at health care access in states across the country. Health care isn’t political, yet Republicans continue to play politics with our bodies, lives, and futures. It has to stop — and we can make sure it does by kicking anti-abortion Republicans out of their jobs this election cycle, and beyond. Extremists have no place in politics, and it’s time to make that clear. The reproductive freedom of Americans is not up for debate.”
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EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, works to elect Democratic pro-choice women up and down the ballot and across the country with a goal of fighting for our rights and our communities. Over 40 years, EMILYs List has raised nearly $950 million to help Democratic women win competitive elections by recruiting and training candidates, supporting and helping build strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, running one of the most impactful independent expenditure operations for Democrats, and turning out women voters to the polls. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect the country’s first woman as vice president, 192 women to the House, 29 to the Senate, 20 governors, and over 1,600 women to state and local office. More than 40% of the candidates EMILYs List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. Visit www.emilyslist.org for more information.
