The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Planned Parenthood and a South Carolina Medicaid patient do not have legal standing to sue over the state’s decision to exclude Planned Parenthood from its Medicaid program because of its abortion services.

Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the majority, held that the Medicaid Act’s “any qualified provider” provision does not clearly and unambiguously grant individuals a private right to sue under federal civil rights laws. Instead, enforcement of Medicaid funding conditions typically comes through federal government action, such as cutting off funds, not private lawsuits.

The case arose after South Carolina excluded Planned Parenthood from Medicaid in 2018, arguing Medicaid funds indirectly subsidize abortions. The 4th Circuit had previously allowed the suit to proceed, but the Supreme Court reversed that decision, emphasizing that Congress must indicate when it intends to create enforceable individual rights through federal civil rights claims.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, arguing that the provision does grant individual rights and that the Court’s ruling undermines a key civil rights protection. Justice Clarence Thomas concurred but called for a broader reevaluation of the availability of federal civil rights claims under laws passed using Congress’s spending power.

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