The Missouri Supreme Court on Feb. 14 unanimously ruled the General Assembly can’t use the budget process to block Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid reimbursements for providing women’s health care services unrelated to abortion. Given that the court had sided with Planned Parenthood in a similar case in 2020, the outcome of the latest litigation was expected.
At issue is a provision some lawmakers routinely insert into appropriations bills purporting to prohibit organizations affiliated with abortion providers from receiving Medicaid reimbursement for non-abortion services. Because Missouri outlaws abortion in nearly all circumstances, no Planned Parenthood clinics in the state offer the procedure. However, affiliated clinics in other states continue to provide abortions. Medicaid funding for abortion is prohibited by federal law.
In both the current Planned Parenthood case and its 2020 predecessor, the Missouri Supreme Court followed its longstanding precedent holding that appropriation bills must be limited to appropriating funds and cannot establish policy, which must be done by separate legislation.
In a concurring opinion, Judge Zel Fischer, who was the lone dissenter in the 2020 case, agreed precedent compelled this outcome but encouraged the court to reevaluate its precedent in the future and find appropriation bills are exempt from the Missouri Constitution’s requirement that bills be limited to a single subject. The case is Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region, et al., v. Robert Knodell, et al.
