Americans United for Life (AUL) filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court today supporting the State of Kansas in Andersen v. Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri. The petition filed by Kansas asks the Court to review and reverse a Tenth Circuit decision that held States do not have the power to exclude elective abortion providers from their State Medicaid plans.As the first national pro-life organization, with over 47 years of expertise dedicated to advancing protection of human life in the law from conception to natural death, AUL urges the Supreme Court to take this case and resolve a split among the federal appeals courts.
“We are asking the Supreme Court to take this case and protect States’ rights,” said Catherine Glenn Foster, President and CEO of AUL. “The Court needs to step in and correct this improper expansion of federal authority that is in direct violation of both the Tenth Amendment and established Supreme Court precedent.”
While the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed Arkansas’ right to provide Medicaid funding in a way that does not support abortion businesses with taxpayer funding, several other appeals courts have disregarded the clear language of the Medicaid statute and the rights of States in their rulings in favor of Planned Parenthood affiliates. “States like Kansas are not only being prevented from determining their own sound fiscal management practices, but also from doing what’s best for women’s healthcare, which is allocating state funds toward comprehensive and preventive women’s healthcare – the kind Planned Parenthood doesn’t provide,” said Foster.
