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The Supreme Court is paving the way for states to cut off Medicaid money to Planned Parenthood, a ruling that could have wide-ranging ripple effects for patients. See the story in the video aboveThe 6-3 decision released on Thursday settles a yearslong legal battle stemming from South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster's 2018 executive order seeking to remove abortion clinics from the state's Medicaid provider list. Federal law already bans public health care funding from being used for abortions in the vast majority of cases, but many Medicaid recipients get other services from Planned Parenthood, including contraception, cancer screening and pregnancy testing. The high court’s decision blocks Medicaid patients from suing to make sure they can visit the provider of their choice. Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the court’s majority, said allowing individuals to take legal action in these cases can “force governments to direct money away from public services and spend it instead on litigation.”“The job of resolving how best to weigh those competing costs and benefits belongs to the people’s elected representatives, not unelected judges charged with applying the law as they find it,�� Gorsuch wrote. In a scathing dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said the ruling is likely to result in “tangible harm to real people.�� “More concretely, it will strip those South Carolinians �� and countless other Medicaid recipients around the country �� of a deeply personal freedom: the ability to decide who treats us at our most vulnerable,�� Jackson further wrote. Katherine Farris, chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, said the impact will initially be felt only in South Carolina but could later spread if other states decide to pursue similar restrictions on Medicaid funding. “The Supreme Court has now given the green light to other states to do the same as South Carolina and tell people where they can and cannot go for preventative health care, and the long-term consequences of that decision are devastating,�� Farris said during a press conference after the ruling. “We are working hard not to turn people away, but the reality is we may not be able to do that for long.”The Supreme Court ruling was celebrated by anti-abortion advocates, as well as Governor McMaster. "Seven years ago, we took a stand to protect the sanctity of life and defend South Carolina's authority and values �� and today, we are finally victorious," said Gov. McMaster in a statement. "The legality of my executive order prohibiting taxpayer dollars from being used to fund abortion providers like Planned Parenthood has been affirmed by the highest court in the land.”It’s part of a broader Republican push that is also playing out in Congress. The budget bill backed by President Donald Trump also seeks to cut Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood. The organization warns that it would put about 200 centers at risk of closure. Over four in ten individuals with Medicaid say they have received services at Planned Parenthood, according to a health tracking poll from KFF published earlier this year. Another KFF analysis says that, in many communities, Planned Parenthood is the only clinic offering reproductive health care. The health policy research group found, in addition to South Carolina, states like Idaho and Tennessee have pending Section 1115 waiver applications at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services seeking to exclude Planned Parenthood from their Medicaid programs.