Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinics regained access to federal funding on Saturday after a provision to defund abortion providers that was passed last year in the “Big, Beautiful Bill” expired.
Last year, Republicans successfully passed a measure in the reconciliation bill along party lines to ban the organizations from receiving taxpayer dollars through Medicaid for one year. While the Hyde Amendment bars federal dollars from funding abortions in most cases, Republicans and pro-life advocates argue that taxpayer dollars should not be used to prop up an organization that ends the lives of unborn babies.
Republican lawmakers were unsuccessful in extending the provision in the second reconciliation bill passed in June, allowing the abortion organizations to once again access taxpayer dollars on America’s 250th anniversary. Pro-life organizations are urging Republicans to pass a third reconciliation package including the defunding provision, although it is unclear if the GOP is willing to wade into the abortion debate again ahead of the midterm elections.
“Thanks to Majority Leader Thune, Speaker Mike Johnson, and our pro-life majority in Congress we saw a historic victory last year when taxpayers were no longer forced to prop up an industry that profits from killing babies in the womb,” Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement.
“Now this hard-won progress stands on the brink of reversal. On our nation’s 250 anniversary when we celebrate the self-evident truth that all men are created equal with the unalienable right to life, our taxpayer dollars will once again flow to abortion businesses that profit from the destruction of nearly half a million unborn children every year,” she continued. “Defunding Big Abortion is now the default expectation of the pro-life movement. When they return to D.C., Republicans must do all they can through reconciliation to once again block taxpayer dollars from Planned Parenthood and abortion businesses.”
Students for Life President Kristan Hawkins said her organization has given every member an “F” rating for allowing taxpayer dollars to once again flow to abortion organizations.
“The ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ signing last year on the Fourth of July started a countdown clock leading to yesterday’s financial tragedy,” Hawkins said in a statement. “Because Congress did not act to keep the cuts in place, Planned Parenthood & Big Abortion received a gift from federal taxpayers on America’s 250th birthday – access to hundreds of millions in scarce Medicaid dollars.”
“We are calling on Congress to get busy to replace the ‘F’ they got yesterday on the Pro-Life Generation Report Card by earning extra credit with action before Congress goes out of session. The bottom line, pro-life voters want to see healthcare money invested with those who intend for their patients to survive with their lives and fertility intact,” she continued.
After President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law last year, Planned Parenthood Federation of America President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson claimed that 200 clinics in 24 states were “at risk of closure.” The organization said in a recent report that nearly 30 clinics closed because of the defunding measure.
RELATED: Dozens of Planned Parenthood Clinics Closed in 2025
To combat the defunding measure, 11 Democrat-run states increased funding to Planned Parenthood and abortion clinics, research from the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute indicates. Those states include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Washington, and represent at least $202.5 million in supplemental funding for Planned Parenthood and other abortion groups, per the report.
In contrast, at least 13 states have blocked or tried to stop Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood, according to Laurie Sobel, an associate director with KFF’s Women’s Health Policy Program. States have been able to limit funding to abortion clinics after the Supreme Court last year issued a ruling allowing states to exclude certain providers from Medicaid programs and blocking Medicaid enrollees from legally challenging those exclusions.
Planned Parenthood’s most recent 2023-2024 annual report shows they performed 434,450 abortions. That year, the abortion giant also received $832 million in the form of government grants, contracts, and Medicaid reimbursements — a $39.8 million increase from the previous report.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
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