South Carolina still cannot defund Planned Parenthood, US court rules

South Carolina cannot cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday, finding that doing so would deprive Medicaid patients of their right to choose their provider. The order marks the third time that a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has stopped the state from defunding the reproductive health organization on the grounds that it provides abortions. The court had previously upheld a preliminary and later a permanent order from a lower court blocking the move, but was ordered to reconsider last year in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in a separate case about when individuals can sue state governments.