The Supreme Court’s Planned Parenthood Decision Will Cost Lives

The Supreme Court handed down a decision that could devastate healthcare access for millions of Americans. Planned Parenthood provides far more than abortion care.

In a 6–3 ruling, the Supreme Court has decided that Medicaid patients cannot sue states that remove providers like Planned Parenthood from their Medicaid programs, even when those providers offer critical, non-abortion healthcare services. This isn’t just a legal technicality. It’s a direct blow to low-income communities, women, LGBTQ+ patients, young people, and communities of color, many of whom rely on Planned Parenthood as their primary or only source of care.

So what does this really mean? Let’s begin with the most immediate threat:
Cancer Screenings and Preventive Care Will Suffer. Planned Parenthood offers essential services like Pap smears, breast exams, cervical cancer screenings, diabetes checks, and vaccinations. These aren’t political acts. These are lifesaving interventions. Without Medicaid funding, countless patients, especially in rural and underserved areas, will have nowhere to turn. Clinics are already disappearing. This will only accelerate that collapse.

Then there’s birth control. Contraceptive Access Is Under Threat. Contrary to common talking points, Medicaid doesn’t fund abortions. But it does cover birth control, emergency contraception, and reproductive health consultations. Planned Parenthood is one of the largest and most affordable providers of contraception in the country. This ruling invites states to cut that access off completely, leaving patients to face longer waits, higher costs, or no care at all. Unintended pregnancies will rise. The consequences will be real.

And it doesn’t stop there. Sexual and Reproductive Health Services Will Be Gutted. STI testing. HIV prevention. Pregnancy counseling. Prenatal referrals. These are not “extras.” They are public health essentials. And for many Medicaid recipients, Planned Parenthood is the only place offering them. But now, states that have spent years trying to shut down reproductive health services have the green light to do so, without fear of being held accountable in court.

The damage extends beyond the physical. Mental Health Support Will Be Harder to Reach: Planned Parenthood also provides counseling and mental health referrals, an often overlooked but increasingly urgent need. For patients in crisis—especially young women, trans and nonbinary people, and survivors of trauma—losing access to this support means losing their lifeline in a moment of real vulnerability. This decision deepens that isolation.

Marginalized Communities Will Bear the Heaviest Burden.
This ruling disproportionately harms women of color, undocumented or mixed-status families, LGBTQ+ individuals, people living in rural areas, and survivors of domestic or sexual violence. These communities already face steep, structural barriers to care, whether due to geography, income, stigma, or discrimination. Now, they face one more: the loss of trusted providers, and with it, the legal tools to fight back. For many, this isn’t just about losing access. It’s about being pushed further into the margins, with nowhere left to turn.

This Isn’t Just About Planned Parenthood. Yes, the name may evoke political opinions. But this is about something deeper. It’s about whether poor and working-class Americans—those who rely on Medicaid—have the right to choose their own healthcare providers, and to receive critical care without political interference. And now, the Supreme Court has made its answer brutally clear: They don’t.

The Truth: At least 20 Planned Parenthood clinics have already closed, with more expected to follow. States like Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, and South Carolina are aggressively pushing to eliminate Planned Parenthood from Medicaid programs altogether. And with this ruling, they’ll be able to do it, with zero accountability to the people they’re hurting.

Without the ability to sue, patients have no recourse. No appeal. No defense.
It will now fall on Congress (or future courts) to restore these rights. In the meantime, the message is loud and clear: Access to healthcare is being politicized. And patients will pay the price. This isn’t just about healthcare policy. This is a calculated, coordinated attack on the poorest, most vulnerable women and Americans—those with the fewest options, the lowest incomes, and the least power to fight back.

And it won’t just make life harder. It will cost lives.

Because when people lose access to early cancer screenings, contraception, STI treatment, mental health support, and prenatal care, they don’t just fall through the cracks. Some die. Let’s not mince words: this decision will lead to preventable deaths.
American lives will be lost because the Court chose politics over people, and power over public health.

If you believe that healthcare is a human right, now is the time to act. As I always tell you: Speak up. Organize. Donate. Vote. Share the truth. And remember: Silence and neutrality have never protected the most vulnerable.