JEFFERSON CITY — Planned Parenthood Great Rivers – Missouri (PPGR) is challenging the Missouri Department of Social Services' (DSS) decision to terminate its enrollment as a Medicaid provider.
PPGR argues in the lawsuit that this termination violates federal law, the U.S. Constitution and the Missouri Constitution, and requests that its Medicaid provider status be reinstated, according to the complaint flied in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri-Central Division.
PPGR, a not-for-profit organization providing reproductive healthcare services in Missouri and Illinois, has been a Medicaid provider under Missouri’s MO HealthNet program for many years.
The program offers essential healthcare services to low-income residents, including family planning, cancer screenings and sexually transmitted infection treatment.
However, Missouri has repeatedly attempted to defund Planned Parenthood and block it from receiving Medicaid reimbursements for these services.
Despite these efforts, PPGR has never performed abortions in Missouri, though some of its affiliated centers in Illinois do, the complaint states.
Federal Medicaid law, specifically the "freedom-of-choice" provision, guarantees that Medicaid beneficiaries can receive services from any qualified provider, including family planning services, without restriction based on the services the provider chooses to offer.
PPGR contends that Missouri’s recent efforts to terminate its Medicaid provider status, through laws like HB 2634, violate this provision.
HB 2634, signed into law in May, prohibits public funding to any facility or affiliate that provides abortion services.
The law went into effect Aug. 28, the same date PPGR’s Medicaid provider enrollment was scheduled to be terminated.
“Medicaid patients have the freedom to choose their own health care providers, yet the State has singled out Planned Parenthood patients, depriving them of their right to obtain high-quality care from Planned Parenthood," Richard Muniz, Planned Parenthood's interim president and CEO, said in a provided statement. "In a state with some of the worst Black maternal mortality rates and STI infection rates, people need more health care access, not less, to ensure deferred care doesn't lead to more serious health conditions."
Muniz said thanks to the generous support of the organization's donors, Planned Parenthood’s doors remain open so patients can get the affordable, accessible care they rely on as we challenge the State's latest, illegal attempt to exclude us from participating in the Medicaid program.
"Access to basic, quality health care shouldn’t depend on the approval of politicians or on donations; health care should be free and accessible for everyone," Muniz said.
PPGR claims that without Medicaid funding, it will no longer be able to offer free healthcare services to its low-income patients, severely impacting access to essential care for thousands of Missourians.
Planned Parenthood serves approximately 54% of the state’s family planning patients, and its absence could create a significant gap in care for over 9,000 Medicaid patients annually.
The suit is seeking reinstatement of PPGR’s Medicaid provider status, arguing that the state’s actions unlawfully restrict access to healthcare services.
Planned Parenthood is represented by J. Andrew Hirt of TGH Litigation in Columbia, Mo.; and Julia F. Post of Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C.
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri-Central Division case number: 2:24-cv-04157