WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued the following statement after the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of South Carolina blocking funds from Planned Parenthood in Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic:
“This is yet another shameful ruling that inserts the government directly between a patient and their doctor—just like Dobbs three years ago and Skrmetti last week. Intimate, personal decisions about health care shouldn’t require sign off from extremist politicians. And the fact that the Court reached this ruling by, as Justice Jackson noted in her dissent, ‘stymying one of the country’s great civil rights laws,’ is equally alarming.
“Blocking Medicaid funds from Planned Parenthood threatens health care for those with few other places to turn. Access to birth control, cancer screenings, STI testing, PReP, and other life-saving medications and treatments are now at risk for millions of Americans, especially women and LGBTQ+ people.
“Each and every action taken by anti-choice extremists threatens the life of someone you know. Eventually, the tides must turn—and we must protect health care for all.”
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