Cantwell Statement on SCOTUS Decision That Paves Way to Eliminate Health Care Access for Medicaid Patients
49% of Planned Parenthood patients access care via Medicaid and/or the Title X family planning program; FACT SHEET: In WA State - Planned Parenthood serves 100,000 patients annually, about half are Medicaid recipients
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to allow South Carolina to end Planned Parenthood’s participation in the state’s Medicaid program – denying South Carolinians easy access to preventive health care like birth control. The ruling opens the door for any anti-abortion state in the country to take the same action. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, issued the following statement in response to the decision:
“Today's Supreme Court ruling means that any state can blacklist Planned Parenthood or other health care providers, taking away access for Medicaid recipients,” said Sen. Cantwell. “This decision is another troubling step toward the anti-abortion movement’s ultimate goal -- deciding for themselves what reproductive care American women are allowed to get.”
The 1977 Hyde Amendment already bans the use of federal funding for abortion, with an exception for pregnancies that endanger the life of the pregnant person or that result from rape or incest. This decision paves the way for states to eliminate access for Medicaid patients to receive affordable cancer screenings, gynecological care, STD and STI screenings, and birth control services from Planned Parenthood clinics.
According to a Planned Parenthood report, from 2023-2024 the provider accounted for 364,600 Pap tests and breast exams, 2.2 million birth control services, and 5.1 million STI tests and treatments. Half of all Planned Parenthood patients (49%) access care through Medicaid and/or the Title X family planning program. Allowing states to withhold Medicaid funding also puts rural communities at risk -- 76% of Planned Parenthood health centers are located in rural or medically underserved areas, meaning patients would have to travel farther to receive care.
Sen. Cantwell has been a champion for preserving Medicaid and access to reproductive health care. Earlier this week, on the three-year anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, Sen. Cantwell released a fact sheet detailing the dire consequences for Washington state’s reproductive health care delivery system if the Republican reconciliation bill is passed that would cut billions from Medicaid.
Yesterday, Sen. Cantwell spoke on the Senate floor to urge her colleagues to vote against cuts to Medicaid that would effectively reverse the expansion of the program under the Affordable Care Act. Video of Sen. Cantwell’s speech is available HERE, and a transcript HERE.
On Tuesday’s Dobbs anniversary, Sen. Cantwell joined the entire Democratic Senate Caucus in introducing the Women’s Health Protection Act of 2025, which would guarantee access to abortion everywhere across the country and restore the right to comprehensive reproductive health care for millions of Americans. Also this week, Sen. Cantwell joined nine of her Senate Democratic colleagues in a letter condemning the Trump Administration’s recent rescission of guidance that reaffirmed hospitals and providers’ obligations under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) to provide medically necessary emergency abortion care, regardless of where the patient lives.
A full timeline of Sen. Cantwell’s actions to defend Medicaid from cuts is HERE.
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