The Supreme Court rejected Indiana's attempt to block Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood because the clinic performs abortions.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the court did not make changes to the ruling made by a federal judge in Indiana and the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago that prevented the ban from taking effect.
The 2011 law would have banned Medicaid funds from going to an organization such as Planned Parenthood whose work includes performing abortions.
The Obama administration disagreed with Indiana lawmakers and took Planned Parenthood's side in the argument claiming the measure would deny low-income patients the right to their choice of healthcare provider.
Judge Diane S. Sykes, who commented for the 7th Circuit last year, said the state's "defunding law excludes Planned Parenthood from Medicaid for a reason unrelated to its fitness to provide medical services, violating its patients' statutory right to obtain medical care from the qualified provider of their choice."
According to the Times, Indiana lawmakers voted two years ago to pursue forbidding the spending of any Medicaid funding on facilities that perform abortions. Hospitals and state-licensed surgical clinics were exempted.
The U.S. federal government does fund most of the cost of providing healthcare under Medicaid, but the money is divided through a state agency. If Indiana succeeded, it would have stopped the federal money from going to clinics. Various reports stated that by limiting Planned Parenthood's cash flow, many of their facilities would have been forced to shut down.
President of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Cecile Richards, praised the Supreme Court's decision.
"Today's announcement from the Supreme Court is not only a victory for Planned Parenthood's patients in Indiana, it is a victory for the nearly 3 million people who turn to Planned Parenthood health centers each year across the country," Richards told the Times.
