Indiana Asks Supreme Court to Hear Medicaid Abortion Funding Case

Indiana State Capitol
Photo Credit: Drew Tarvin / Flickr

Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill filed a request with the Supreme Court to review a case regarding states' right to determine whether abortion businesses can receive Medicaid funding.

“States have authority to determine who is a qualified Medicaid provider,” State Solicitor General Tom Fisher told CNA on May 1. Because Indiana officials did not want to subsidize abortions "even indirectly," they excluded abortion providers from their list of qualified Medicaid providers.

The Solicitor General told CNA that he was hopeful the Supreme Court would take this case.

“We pointed out to them this time that the lower courts are in conflict over whether Planned Parenthood or other Medicaid providers who get disqualified can sue a government,” Fisher said.

In 2018, the Supreme Court denied requests from Kansas and Louisiana to hear similar cases. Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Clarence Thomas filed a dissent arguing that the court should have taken the case. The three justices noted that lower courts had ruled on both sides of the issue, and the Supreme Court needed to clarify the situation.

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