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Senate Bill 2238, passed earlier this year during the Legislative session, prohibits Medicaid reimbursement for any organization that performs (or is affiliated with) abortion.
This new bill has provided challenges for Mississippi’s Planned Parenthood clinic, which provides cancer screenings, birth control and testing for sexually transmitted infections, but not abortion. The clinic can no longer receive reimbursements from Medicaid, thus making other services provided by the clinic unaffordable to some patients.
Protests ensued after the bill was passed. Public Policy Director for Planned Parenthood, Felicia Brown-Williams, stated the motivations for the protests “We’re here because we advocate for access to reproductive healthcare regardless of gender, regardless of sexuallity, regardless of your income and regardless of your zip code.”
Planned Parenthood was not the only organization affected by the new law. The Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the only abortion clinic in Mississippi, has had extremely limited Medicaid support in previous years. The state’s Medicaid division has only paid the organization less than $500 within the past three years.
Planned Parenthood sued the state in late June on grounds that the bill violated Section 1396a(a) Chapter 23, Title 42 of the United States Code, or the “Free Choice of Provider” Provision. Federal Judge Daniel Jordan wrote in ruling, “essentially every court to consider similar laws has found that they violate… the so-called ‘Free-Choice-of-Provider Provision.’”
Planned Parenthood President, Cecile Richards, commented on the decision stating, “Yet another court has said it is unacceptable for politicians to dictate where women can go for their health care. This case is about the people who rely on us for basic care everyday. We will not stand for these attacks on our patient’s’ right to healthcare, and Planned Parenthood will fight for our patients at every turn.”
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