WASHINGTON – “South Carolina was right to deny Planned Parenthood taxpayer dollars. A group dedicated to ending children’s lives deserves no public support,” said Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities, in response to the ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States in Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic. The case, a challenge to the state’s decision to exclude Planned Parenthood from Medicaid, turned on a specific question about the legal basis for Planned Parenthood’s claim. “Abortion is not health care,” Bishop Thomas continued, “and lives will be saved because South Carolina has chosen to not fund clinics that pretend it is. Publicly funded programs like Medicaid should only support authentic, life-affirming options for mothers and children in need.”