'DEFUND 250': Taxpayer-funded Planned Parenthood helps to create more abortionists

On July 4, 2026, America will celebrate the 250th anniversary of her founding — but unless Congress votes to continue banning federal Medicaid dollars from abortion providers like Planned Parenthood, July 4 will also be the day that America's most prolific killer of preborn children will see those taxpayer dollars once again pouring into its bank accounts.

Planned Parenthood deserves to be permanently defunded — and Live Action News' series, 'DEFUND 250,' plans to remind the public of many reasons why.

Planned Parenthood, which receives millions in taxpayer dollars each year, is a frequent abortion training site for OBGYN residents attending various universities or teaching hospitals which participate in the Ryan Residency or Complex in Family Planning Programs.

It is now estimated that revenue from Planned Parenthood's abortions exceeds $200 million each year.

Key Takeaways:

• Planned Parenthood, which is taxpayer-funded, serves as an abortion training site for multiple medical schools.

• At several locations, OBGYN residents are trained not just in first-trimester abortions, but in second trimester (D&E) abortions as well.

• These training programs are well-funded family planning fellowships, including the Ryan Residency Program.

The Details:

Well-funded abortion training programs

The Ryan Residency abortion training program, founded in 1999 and based out of the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), boasts having trained over 7,000 abortion providers.

It has been heavily funded by the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation (Warren Buffett), once dubbed the "sugar daddy" of the abortion movement. The program partners with Planned Parenthood and even trains medical professionals in pro-life states how to provide elective abortions.

Medical Marketing and Media online reported that, in 2024, this translated to "1,354 residents this year out of 5,962 OB-GYN residents nationwide" — which equates to 23%.

Similarly, the "Complex Family Planning Fellowship began in 1991 at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)," UCSF's website states.

The Buffett Foundation was also among the original investors in Danco Laboratories, the U.S. abortion pill manufacturer. Today, Buffett Foundation dollars flow to Planned Parenthood, Gynuity Health Projects (which has conducted clinical trials of the abortion pill), and many other groups tied to the abortion pill.

Taxpayer-funded Planned Parenthood clinics are training sites

Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH)

BWH's website notes that "Clinical training in first and second trimester abortion is offered at Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts (PPLM)...." (emphasis added):

Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) has a long-standing commitment to family planning. Dr Kenneth J. Ryan, for whom the national 'Ryan Program' is named, was the Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology from 1973 to 1993. Under his leadership the hospital began offering abortion services and OBGYN resident training in abortion in 1973 with the legalization of abortion with the Roe v. Wade decision.

Abortion services and training for residents has been ongoing ever since. The Brigham and Women's Hospital-Harvard Medical School Complex Family Planning (BWH-HMS CFP) Fellowship program began in July of 2005.... Our fellows gain a wide range of clinical experience at three academic hospitals and a large Planned Parenthood affiliate.

Dartmouth

Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center website states:

Residents of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Program spend the majority of time at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, a state-of-the-art facility in a beautiful rural location. 6 months of the second year are spent at Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, New Hampshire, which provides a more urban experience in a community hospital. There are also opportunities for family planning training at Planned Parenthood of Northern New England and Equality Health Center....

...Our Ryan Residency Training Program provides comprehensive abortion and contraceptive education to residents via a dedicated clinical rotation and structured curriculum. Trainees rotate at our partner sites, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, Equality Health Center, and in clinics at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.

Indiana University (IU)

The IU website states (emphasis added):

The IU School of Medicine OB-GYN residency program is a designated Ryan Program Training Site. The Ryan Program, founded in 1999, is a national initiative based at the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health at the University of California-San Francisco...

During the second-year family planning rotation, OB-GYN residents are exposed to adolescent medicine clinics and Planned Parenthood...

Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University

The school's website states (emphases added):

Our program integrates a focused five-week Ryan Residency Training Rotation into the PGY-1 and PGY-2 years, providing residents with intensive, individualized training. This rotation is thoughtfully combined with supervised gynecologic and obstetrical ultrasound training, maximizing learning opportunities. In collaboration with Planned Parenthood Smithtown, we offer invaluable experience in surgical and medical abortion procedures.

Stanford University

"Through our Ryan Program, our residents reach competency in first trimester abortion by end of intern year with exposure to second trimester abortion starting in the first year and throughout the four years," the university states online.

Resident rotations to the OBGYN program at the University include Planned Parenthood and a "Peds Transgender clinic."

University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)

Cedars-Sinai is a major teaching facility of the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. In 2023, the Guardian reported "the Ryan Program at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles has created a partnership with its Planned Parenthood affiliate, where residents from a state in which abortion is banned can come to undertake their abortion training requirement."

The website adds:

In October 2014, the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology established the Kenneth J. Ryan Residency Training Program in Abortion and Family Planning. Under this program, residents receive specialized training from nationally recognized family planning faculty in all methods of uterine evacuation, miscarriage management, abortion care, evaluation of early pregnancy and contraceptive care.

"Residents participate in their continuity clinic at Planned Parenthood Los Angeles and at Cedars‑Sinai throughout their four years of training. Under supervision of Cedars‑Sinai faculty, residents provide comprehensive obstetrics and gynecology services at both locations..." the website states.

"Cedars‑Sinai will serve as the adviser for medical services and clinics at the LA28 games and is caring for Team USA athletes through affiliation with the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Medical Network," their website states.

University of Cincinnati

The University has a Ryan Residency Training program and says (emphasis added):

Our faculty specialize in and train residents in abortion, surgical management of abnormal/medically complicated pregnancies, complex contraception, LARC, advocacy and grieving/bereavement counseling...

The Family Planning Section is comprised of 3 physicians who specialize in provision of care that is non-judgmental, compassionate, and respectful of a patient's wishes. Through a partnership with Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio, we are able to provide the full range of reproductive health services.

"Residents are trained on LARC and other methods of contraception, values-clarification exercises to explore their role and feelings throughout the family planning process, and rotate to a local Planned Parenthood affiliate and community health centers for a wide variety of experience," the curriculum schedule website page states.

University of Iowa

This University Ryan Residency Program partners with both the Emma Goldman abortion clinic and Planned Parenthood, which has "historically has been an additional site for resident and medical student education as well as research. UI Health Care providers currently do not provide care at Planned Parenthood locations."

University of South Florida

The USF website states:

Although we do not have a fellowship in the newly accredited subspecialty of Complex Family Planning, we are proud to be a Ryan Residency Program. Our residents also rotate at Moffitt Cancer Center located conveniently on the USF main campus...

We have a close relationship with our colleagues at Planned Parenthood, and our residents rotate through their clinics during select rotations.

University of New Mexico (UNM)

UNM's website

UNM maintains clinical rotation partnerships with local Planned Parenthood health centers. Our welcoming and fully equipped clinical training site, the UNM Center for Reproductive Health, is a full-spectrum family planning clinic.   

As part of your training, you will observe and participate in patient care alongside UNM Complex Family Planning clinicians. Our faculty provide:  Abortion care, including procedural and medication abortion 

University of Pittsburgh

The website states:

UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital remains a leader in family planning training with a dedicated family planning rotation since 2005. As a Ryan Residency Program, residents have access to family planning-focused didactics and expanded opportunities for hands-on clinical experience. The curriculum aims to cover a full spectrum of reproductive health care including complex contraception, pregnancy loss, and abortion with an emphasis on evidence-based practices and truly patient-centered counseling.

Residents work with specialists in multiple settings including the Magee Outpatient Clinic, the Center for Contraception and Family Planning at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital, the operating room, and a freestanding abortion facility (Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania).

Through these environments, residents gain an appreciation for complex and nuanced counseling regarding contraception and pregnancy options and improve procedural skills in ultrasonography, D&C and D&E procedures, and long-acting reversible contraception placement/removals.

University of San Diego

The UC School of Medicine website states:

As one of the first Ryan Residency Training Programs, resident training in family planning is emphasized at UC San Diego. Did you know Ken Ryan was our first Chair?

... During the early rotations, residents learn how to perform office D&Cs. Additionally, the residents participate in the D&Es done in the OR.

UC San Diego has a long tradition of having residents rotate at Planned Parenthood. This partnership allows the residents to benefit from exceptional clinicians and experience Planned Parenthood offers.

University of Utah

The University of Utah's website states:

Family planning fellows have many clinical training opportunities. Clinical abortion training up to 18 weeks occurs at the Planned Parenthood Association of Utah’s (PPAU) Metro Clinic.

This center performs more than 2,000 medical and surgical terminations per year, is the only elective second trimester provider in the state, and is the local Ryan Residency Training site.  

University of Washington

UW medicine's website reads: "Teaching and mentoring skills through engagement with the Ryan Residency Training Program. Training in complex contraception and abortion care through the Family Planning Fellowship."

UW's Complex in Family Planning Program includes "in-hospital outpatient abortion focused on complex second-trimester cases, and three different outpatient family planning clinics whose medical directors provide leadership and mentoring: two free-standing clinics (Cedar River Clinics and Planned Parenthood), and a full service ob/gyn department with three hospitals."

Why It Matters

President Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill," passed in July of 2025, removed federal Medicaid funding for one year from Planned Parenthood — Congress could make that defunding permanent.

The American taxpayer should not be forced to continue to fund an organization that not only committed over 400,000 abortions last year alone but also collaborates to train additional abortion providers.