Four ways to strip Planned Parenthood of taxpayer funding it doesn’t deserve

President Trump and his administration have an opportunity to protect vulnerable human lives while at the same time ensuring that women and families receive true health care in the comfort of their own communities. That opportunity starts with defunding Planned Parenthood, which is currently raking in nearly $700 million each year in taxpayer funding, all while have committed serious ethical violations — from covering up child sex abuse to aiding sex traffickers.

Here are some actions that could be taken to end the funding flowing to this corporation, which has increased its abortions to end the lives of nearly 400,000 preborn children in its most recently reported year, even as most of its legitimate healthcare services have plummeted.

$1.9 Million a Day? The Truth About Planned Parenthood’s Taxpayer Funding

1. Restrict Title X funding

In 2022, Planned Parenthood regional groups brought in $16 million in Title X grants from the Department of Health and Human Services. Title X is a federal program that dispenses grant money to organizations that provide family planning services, including contraception, sex ed, pregnancy testing and counseling, infertility, STIs, breast and cervical cancer screening and prevention, and abstinence counseling for adolescents.

Section 1008 of the Title X statute prohibits abortion as a method of family planning. However, money is fungible, and giving money to an organization that commits abortions will free up other streams of income to pay for abortion-related ‘services.’

While Planned Parenthood does provide services apart from abortion, those services have been rapidly declining. Over the last 10 years at Planned Parenthood, contraception services dropped nearly 40%, cancer screenings and prevention dropped 59%, breast care declined nearly 62%, and Pap tests declined nearly 60%. Overall, clients decreased by 30%, yet Planned Parenthood taxpayer funding rose 29%, from $540.6 million to nearly $700 million. In that same time period, abortions increased by over 20%, from 327,166 to 392,715 a year.

READ: Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy signal move to defund Planned Parenthood under Trump

The first Trump administration ensured that any organization, including Planned Parenthood, that either committed or referred women for abortions did not qualify for Title X funding unless it financially separated its abortion-related practices from its actual health care services. The decision to revoke Title X funding for abortion-friendly groups meant that Planned Parenthood, which refused to make the necessary changes, was barred from receiving millions of taxpayer dollars from 2020 to 2021.

The current Trump administration is capable of restoring this Title X rule.

2. Redirect federal Medicaid funding

The Trump administration can also disqualify Planned Parenthood and any other abortion business from being reimbursed for services provided through the federal Medicaid program. This has already been achieved at the state level in both Texas and Arkansas, which both excluded Planned Parenthood from receiving state Medicaid funding after it failed to meet medical and ethical standards.

While abortion advocates claim that defunding Planned Parenthood through Medicaid would cause a maternal health crisis, the federal government can redirect that funding from Planned Parenthood to federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) that provide comprehensive primary care, prenatal and postpartum care, and cancer screenings, specifically in underserved communities. There were approximately 15,000 FQHCs in the United States by 2023, outnumbering Planned Parenthood facilities 25 to 1.

As Live Action founder and president Lila Rose explained in an op-ed for Newsweek, “This change would be a victory for taxpayers, ensuring government resources are being used to benefit the people, not a progressive political interest group.”

Planned Parenthood In Crisis: New York Times Reports Botched Abortions & Failed Procedures

3. Permanently strip Planned Parenthood of taxpayer dollars

Outside of these efforts, Congress can also permanently remove taxpayer funding from Planned Parenthood through budget reconciliation, a process under the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 that allows for changes to Congressional spending. It allows the Senate to pass budget-related measures with a simple majority, bypassing a 60-vote filibuster.

While Republicans hold the majority of Senate seats with 53, and Democrats and Independents hold a combined 47 seats, pro-life efforts will not pass the Senate if an opposing Senator filibusters them. In the event of a filibuster, the bill would require 60 votes to pass.

Through the reconciliation process, Planned Parenthood could be defunded by the Senate with just 51 votes — a simple majority.

4. Defunding at the state level

In addition, the Trump administration can issue guidance to pro-life states so that they can move to disqualify Planned Parenthood from state Medicaid programs as well.

Planned Parenthood boasts $2.9 billion in net assets, and its most recent annual report shows a profit of $178.6 million. And while it makes money from killing more than 1,000 preborn children every single day, Planned Parenthood is being handed $1.9 million each day in federal taxpayer funds. It has experienced a 245% increase in taxpayer funding since 2000.

It’s time to defund America’s abortion giant.