The Freedom From Religion Foundation is gravely concerned about the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to hear a case that could severely undermine women’s access to health care and reproductive rights. The move signals yet another coordinated effort to weaponize the judiciary in advancing a regressive, religiously motivated agenda at the expense of individual freedoms.
The Kerr v. Planned Parenthood case stems from South Carolina’s decision in 2018 to remove Planned Parenthood South Atlantic from eligibility in its Medicaid program. Gov. Henry McMaster directed the state Department of Health and Human Services to deem abortion clinics unqualified to provide family planning services and end their Medicaid agreements. Planned Parenthood patient Julie Edwards sued the state because her Medicaid coverage would not pay for her visits to Planned Parenthood for birth control. A federal appeals court blocked the state from excluding Planned Parenthood from its Medicaid program, prompting the state — represented by the Christian nationalist organization Alliance Defending Freedom — to ask the Supreme Court to determine whether Planned Parenthood and Edwards have a legal right to sue to enforce the Medicaid Act. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case in the spring.
Under federal law, Medicaid funds cannot be used to provide abortions. However, Planned Parenthood provides other essential medical services to women, including gynecological and contraceptive care and also screenings for cancer, high blood pressure and cholesterol. Dismantling funding mechanisms for these services disproportionately affects marginalized communities, particularly low-income individuals and people of color.
Several other states have also enacted laws blocking Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funding, including Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi and Texas.
“This case is part of a broader and deeply troubling trend whereby religious ideologues seek to impose their beliefs on all Americans, eroding fundamental rights in the process,” says Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president. “By targeting Planned Parenthood, they’re attacking not just reproductive health care but the very principle of bodily autonomy.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation has long warned against the creeping influence of religious dogma in American law. Decisions like the Dobbs ruling overturning Roe v. Wade have emboldened anti-choice activists to pursue increasingly aggressive legal strategies aimed at restricting access to reproductive care. The Supreme Court’s willingness to entertain cases like Kerr v. Planned Parenthood highlights the urgency of protecting the separation of church and state.
“This is not about protecting life — it’s about controlling women,” says FFRF Deputy Legal Director Liz Cavell. “The religious right is using the courts to advance its theological agenda, and the stakes couldn’t be higher for millions of Americans who rely on Planned Parenthood for access to reproductive health care.”
FFRF emphasizes that the United States was founded as a secular nation, with a Constitution that enshrines the right of individuals to make personal decisions free from government-imposed religious doctrine. Efforts to defund Planned Parenthood and restrict reproductive care not only violate these principles but also endanger lives.
FFRF will continue to advocate for reason, science and secular values in public policy and to safeguard the rights of conscience of all Americans.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with 40,000 members and several chapters across the country. Our purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
