Planned Parenthood Seeks Leave to Add Claims in Defunding Fight

A Planned Parenthood affiliate is asking a federal court for permission to add a constitutional claim to a lawsuit testing South Carolina’s efforts to defund it.

Planned Parenthood South Atlantic also asked the US District Court for the District of South Carolina on Thursday to be allowed to challenge a state defunding provision lawmakers adopted in May.

The long-running case involves anti-abortion advocates’ attempt to defund Planned Parenthood on the state and national levels—a goal that’s become easier since the US Supreme Court abolished the right to abortion in 2022’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

It also was ...