Washington, Mar 27 (AP) Major anti-abortion groups were gathering in the American capital on Thursday to begin a lobbying effort with Congress and President Donald Trump's administration aimed at eliminating funding for Planned Parenthood ahead of the Supreme Court hearing a case in April that could strip the organisation's funding in South Carolina.

The anti-abortion groups are taking aim at abortion providers under an initiative called Defund Planned Parenthood, which targets federal Medicaid funding for the reproductive health care provider.

“This event begins an intensive round of outreach to the GOP, calling on them to take advantage of this unique moment to defund the abortion industry,” Students for Life, the national anti-abortion group organising the event, said in a statement.

The Hyde Amendment already restricts government funding for most abortions, and less than 5 per cent of the services Planned Parenthood provides are abortions, according to the organisation's 2023 report.

Planned Parenthood also provides other forms of reproductive health care, including contraception, treatment for sexually transmitted infections and cancer screenings, often for low-income patients.

Vicki Ringer, Planned Parenthood's South Carolina director of public affairs, said claims that Planned Parenthood uses Medicaid funding for abortion is “an attempt to mislead the public” and emphasised Planned Parenthood's role in providing broader reproductive health care.

“We should be expanding health care to low-income people rather than trying to kick off these people who rely on us for health care,” Ringer said.

Rachel Rebouche, dean of Temple University's Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia, said the Defund Planned Parenthood movement has been building for 10 years but has gained momentum as the anti-abortion movement has been emboldened by Trump's presidential victory and by his fellow Republicans winning control of Congress in November.

“We're seeing more enthusiasm in states like South Carolina and others to close down Planned Parenthood under the banner of stopping abortions, which their laws already do," she said.

The Supreme Court announced it would hear a case involving South Carolina's attempt to strip Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood. Experts say the lawsuit could prompt similar efforts in conservative states across the country to chip away at the organisation's funding.

Almost 100 conservative members of Congress signed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to side with South Carolina. The state already bans abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, before many people know they're pregnant.

In February, a panel of judges in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court ruling that attempted to force Planned Parenthood to repay millions of dollars of Medicaid funding in Texas and Louisiana.

If the Supreme Court sides with South Carolina, Rebouche said, there may be a wider impact on health care by "giving states broad power to exclude health care that is unpopular or politically disfavoured,” such as contraception.

Targeting Planned Parenthood might also have a negative effect on maternal and infant mortality rates and could cost more money in the long run by cutting off low-income patients from vital preventive reproductive health care, she said.

During a 2015 push to strip Planned Parenthood funding, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that doing so would cost the government USD 130 million over 10 years.

Meanwhile, lawmakers in at least three states -- Missouri, Ohio and South Carolina -- have introduced bills this year aiming to create tax breaks for anti-abortion centres.

The strategies come during a time when abortion rights advocates are warning that Trump and his Cabinet hold significant power to restrict medication abortion access nationwide.

Rather than immediately heeding calls from anti-abortion allies to restrict Medicaid funding for clinics that provide abortions, Trump has made quieter moves after waffling on the issue on the campaign trail.

Trump reinstated a policy that requires foreign nongovernmental agencies to certify that they don't provide or promote abortion if they receive US aid for family planning assistance.

He also pardoned several anti-abortion activists convicted of blockading abortion clinics and used wording related to fetal personhood in an executive order rolling back protections for transgender people.

The Republican president has appointed abortion opponents in some key Cabinet positions that could affect the availability of medication abortion and contraception, Medicaid coverage for family planning services, collection of abortion-related data and abortion access for troops and veterans.

Advocates on either side of the abortion debate are waiting to see if Trump's Department of Justice will revive the Comstock Act, a 19th-century obscenity law, to restrict the mailing of medication abortion or other materials used for abortions.

Attorney General Pam Bondi has a history of defending abortion restrictions, and her confirmation was celebrated by abortion opponents. (AP) ARD ARD ARD