RICHMOND, Va. (CN) — The Fourth Circuit on Tuesday rejected South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster’s latest attempt to remove Planned Parenthood from the state’s Medicaid program because its clinics provide abortions.

In a 25-page ruling, a three-judge panel affirmed a permanent injunction that prevents South Carolina from terminating Planned Parenthood South Atlantic's Medicaid provider agreement.

“At the outset of this litigation, the district court issued a preliminary injunction preventing South Carolina from terminating Planned Parenthood’s provider agreement. We affirmed its decision then. South Carolina now returns to our court to appeal the district court’s subsequent permanent injunction,” wrote U.S. Circuit Judge Harvie Wilkinson, a Ronald Reagan appointee. "We again affirm the district court’s judgment."

The unanimous panel – which also included U.S. Circuit Judges Julius Richardson and James Wynn, appointed by Donald Trump and Barack Obama, respectively – found that allowing South Carolina to defund Planned Parenthood would nullify the intent of Congress, which was to allow Medicaid recipients and individuals of any economic status to select the medical provider of their choice.

“In sum we refuse to nullify Congress’s undeniable desire to extend a choice of medical providers to the less fortunate among us, individuals who experience the same medical problems as the more fortunate in society but who lack under their own means the same freedom to choose their healthcare provider,” Wilkinson wrote.

McMaster, a Republican, signed an order in July 2018 that terminated Planned Parenthood’s ability to seek Medicaid reimbursements for family planning and other health services that it provides to hundreds of men, women and teens at its clinics in Charleston and Columbia, including abortion.

https://www.courthousenews.com/panel-rejects-south-carolina-bid-to-kick-planned-parenthood-off-medicaid-program/