Supreme court weighs SC effort to defund Planned Parenthood: 5 reactions from both sides

By Samantha Kamman, Christian Post Reporter Wednesday, April 09, 2025

3. Taxpayers funding abortion

The Charlotte Lozier Institute, the research arm of the advocacy group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, filed an amicus brief in the case alongside the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. 

“Planned Parenthood is responsible for more than a third of all induced abortions performed in the United States each year. A large percentage of its revenue comes from offering abortions,” the summary of the brief’s argument reads. 

According to Planned Parenthood's 2022-23 annual report, the organization performed over 390,000 abortions while receiving nearly $700 million in federal funding. Pro-life advocates noted that the report was consistent with previous reports that showed an increase in abortions while other services declined.

“Even as its abortion numbers have risen year after year, the medical services it offers have sharply declined — as have its adoption referrals,” the groups' brief added. “Planned Parenthood’s South Carolina locations offer almost no prenatal care for mothers who choose to continue their pregnancies.”

“This is nothing new. Planned Parenthood has led the abortion industry from the beginning. It is responsible for the deaths of millions of the preborn children that South Carolina seeks to protect,” the document continued.

SBA Pro-Life America highlighted the brief in a Wednesday press release, which argued in favor of “pro-life, good-governance policy to protect taxpayers from being forced to fund the abortion industry.”

In a statement ahead of oral arguments, Katie Daniel, the organization’s director of legal affairs and policy counsel, declared that “Planned Parenthood is not a healthcare provider.” 

“[It] is a multi-billion-dollar abortion business with a track record of putting radical abortion politics over patients,” the pro-life advocate stated. “That includes this lawsuit, which would put a crushing burden on Medicaid by opening the floodgates for thousands of disqualified entities to sue states.” 

Daniel also cited a New York Times piece from earlier this year that covered accusations of Planned Parenthood facilities throughout the country subjecting women to dangerous and negligent care. 

Pro-life advocates have expressed concern for decades about the corporation harming women through botched abortions and allegedly failing to act on its duties as a mandatory reporter of suspected child abuse.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of SBA Pro-Life America, said in a press release that the Supreme Court siding with South Carolina would be “a big victory for babies, women and taxpayers in every pro-life state.” 

“South Carolina is deeply pro-life and has twice elected Gov. Henry McMaster, who has fought for women, children and taxpayers every step of the way,” the pro-life leader said. “We believe the Court will recognize South Carolina’s right to direct its own taxpayer dollars toward real health care, not prop up partisan political organizations and abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood.”