COLUMBIA, S.C. (Thursday, December 4, 2025) – Planned Parenthood South Atlantic has announced it will no longer continue its litigation for Medicaid reimbursements in South Carolina bringing closure to Governor Henry McMaster’s 2018 executive order cutting off government funding for the state’s second largest abortion
provider.
Planned Parenthood South Atlantic operates two abortion facilities in South Carolina, one in Columbia and the other in Charleston. In 2023, Planned Parenthood committed 2,970 of the 8,187 reported abortions occurring in South Carolina. In 2024, the first full year that the S.C. Fetal Heartbeat Act was in effect, Planned Parenthood committed
1,294 of the 3,035 reported
abortions in South Carolina. The largest abortion business in South Carolina is the privately owned Greenville Women’s Clinic. The Fetal Heartbeat Act protects the unborn child once the baby’s heartbeat can be detected, usually by six weeks gestational age.
According to the South Carolina Daily Gazette, McMaster declared victory stating through a spokesman that, “Thanks to Governor McMaster’s leadership and his victory at the U.S. Supreme Court, South Carolina taxpayers will never again be forced to subsidize abortion providers like Planned Parenthood.”
On June 26, 2025, the U.S. Supreme
Court ruled 6-3 that Medicaid beneficiaries cannot sue state officials challenging a state’s decision to exclude providers. The case was brought by Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and a Medicaid recipient. At the time of that decision Lisa Van Riper,
President of South Carolina Citizens for Life, thanked Governor McMaster “for his courageous stand for mothers and their unborn children to ensure the most life-affirming
care and his stand for South Carolina taxpayers to ensure that state dollars are distributed in a manner most consistent with our citizens’ values.”
In South Carolina federally qualified health centers provide a variety of services including prenatal care, according to Jeff Leieritz, director of strategic communications for the State Department of
Public Health. “Since state fiscal year 2023-2024, 93 federally qualified health centers have been reimbursed by the Healthy Connections program for rendering prenatal services,” he said. He said Planned Parenthood received less than $100,000 in 2023, 2024, and 2025 for non-abortion health services. Federally qualified health centers do not provide abortion in South Carolina. Under South Carolina law, government funding is prohibited for abortions
with exceptions for rape and life of the mother.
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