Planned Parenthood wins major victory as Supreme Court declines to hear funding case

Planned Parenthood just won a significant victory as the Supreme Court declined to hear a case from states looking to partially defund the organization.

Louisiana and Kansas had passed laws preventing their citizens from using Medicaid for Planned Parenthood's services that aren't related to abortions, such as ultrasounds, per NPR. Medicaid funding already can't be used for abortions at Planned Parenthood except in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the mother in danger, per NBC News.

Medicaid patients had filed a lawsuit, and after Louisiana and Kansas suffered defeats in the lower courts, they appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that the patients could not actually challenge its decisions related to Medicaid funding and that only the federal government could do that, per CBS News. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch argued in favor of the court taking the case in order to make that determination, NBC News reports.

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But the conservative justices came one vote shy of having enough to hear the case. The decision of the lower courts, therefore, stands. Interestingly, Justice Brett Kavanaugh did not join his conservative colleagues in calling for the case to be taken up. CNN reports that he likely would "rather avoid contentious, high-profile disputes for now, at least where possible."

NPR notes that while Medicaid funding can still being used for Planned Parenthood in most states, this decision doesn't mean no states can block the funding — Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota can still do so due to a decision from the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.