Missouri high court says state must pay Planned Parenthood

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled lawmakers violated the state constitution when they tried to end all government funding of Planned Parenthood.

The 6-1 ruling scraps a provision in a state budget law forbidding Medicaid reimbursements to any Planned Parenthood clinic, even those that don't provide abortions. That means the state will once again be required to pay Planned Parenthood for preventative health care and family planning for Medicaid patients.

"Today is a victory for Planned Parenthood patients who rely on public health insurance programs to stay healthy," M'Evie Mead, director of policy and organizing at Planned Parenthood Advocates in Missouri, said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for the Missouri Attorney General's Office, which defended the law in court, said the office is disappointed in the ruling.

Abortion opponents in Missouri have for years sought to stop any taxpayer money from going to Planned Parenthood, a not-for-profit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and elsewhere.

But legislators struggled with "loopholes" that allowed Planned Parenthood clinics that provide other health care to continue receiving funding.

Lawmakers were able to stop money from going to Planned Parenthood in the 2019 fiscal year by forgoing some federal funding to avoid requirements the clinics be reimbursed if low-income patients go there for birth control, cancer screenings and other preventative care. Missouri instead used state money to pay for those services.

Planned Parenthood sued in response, arguing some of its chapters provide preventative health care and not abortion and shouldn't be financially penalized.

A lower court agreed, and the Supreme Court did, too.

Judges wrote in the ruling the budget move by lawmakers was a "clear and unmistakable violation" of the Constitution, which prohibits lawmakers from using the budget to create policy.

Missouri has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the nation, and the state Supreme Court decision comes just weeks after it also ruled against the health department for not renewing the abortion license for a St. Louis Planned Parenthood clinic.