No, the one-year defunding of Planned Parenthood didn't cause 'irreparable damage'

Planned Parenthood is claiming the one year defunding measure passed last year resulted in the closure of "nearly 30" facilities — but as those dollars were restored this week, the abortion corporation also claims to have received "over $400 million in emergency funding" from pro-abortion states during that one-year time frame.

Politico reported that Planned Parenthood spokesperson Nora Walsh-DeVries, the group's VP of political and legislative affairs, told Politico that the one year defunding measure (which ended on July 4, 2026) caused "'irreparable damage,' to many communities where access to health services is already scarce." Yet, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) are meeting those needs every day.

Key Takeaways:

• Planned Parenthood claims that the one-year federal Medicaid defunding of abortion providers led to the closure of "nearly 30" facilities, yet it also states that it received over $400M in emergency funding from abortion-friendly states in that same time frame.

• A Planned Parenthood VP claims that the defunding caused "irreparable damage" to communities, suggesting that Medicaid patients simply went without care; yet Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) outnumber Planned Parenthood facilities by a factor of nearly 30:1.

• Planned Parenthood had planned the closures of multiple brick-and-mortar facilities before the federal defunding in an effort to expand its telehealth and Virtual Health Clinic services.

• Though Planned Parenthood warned last year that the defunding could close 200 of its centers, this simply did not happen. Planned Parenthood is well aware that even feigned outrage raises funds — and it did.

• While Planned Parenthood garners political sympathies and gains access to millions in state and federal tax dollars, Americans are losing access to actual medical and obstetric care in both rural and urban hospitals.

The Backstory:

• June 2025: A decision from the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic will allow states to redirect taxpayer dollars away from abortion facilities like Planned Parenthood.

• July 2025: Congress passed the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill,” a budget reconciliation bill which included the defunding of abortion providers like Planned Parenthood from federal Medicaid dollars for just one year.

• September 2025: Planned Parenthood sued and successfully blocked the provision until September 2025, when it took effect.

• July 2026: The one-year defunding period expired on July 4, 2026, allowing Planned Parenthood to again receive taxpayer dollars.

The Details:

Defunding didn't close 200 facilities

On July 1, 2025, Planned Parenthood announced that nearly 200 of its facilities would be “at risk of closure” if they were defunded.

One year later, that prediction never materialized.

In a Congressional panel just last month, Planned Parenthood president Alexis McGill-Johnson claimed that "More than 20 of those health centers have closed since defund."

But, in its recently published "One Year of 'Defunding' Planned Parenthood" report, the organization has changed that total to "nearly 30," while admitting that new centers opened.

The corporation wrote:

Since President Trump and his backers in Congress “defunded” Planned Parenthood on July 4, 2025, nearly 30 health centers have closed... New health centers opened in two key states — Colorado and Virginia — since the “defund” law was signed. [emphasis added]

Live Action News previously documented that facility closures appear to contradict totals published by Planned Parenthood online, which have not changed for several years.

Still, there is no doubt some Planned Parenthood facilities have closed as the organization implemented plans prior to 2025 to shift to an online business model, which includes the sale of mail-order abortion pills. Its “Virtual Health Centers (VHCs)” are part of a larger restructuring plan it put in place years ago.

In its latest 2024-25 annual report, Planned Parenthood recorded receiving a whopping $832 MILLION in taxpayer dollars in one year alone, raking in a total of nearly $12.3B from taxpayers since 2000.

To beef up profits, the organization is now selling abortion pills 'just in case' (without a confirmed pregnancy), in violation of the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) REMS safety program.

'Attacks' fuel donations

Planned Parenthood also claimed, "Despite Attacks, Access to Care Preserved & Expanded." The corporation strategically plays the victim, refusing to end its gruesome abortion business while blaming pro-life "attacks" for limiting Medicaid access.

Planned Parenthood knows, as the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) previously reported, that "outrage tends to fuel donations; the more restrictions on abortion, the more it benefits the national office."

According to its 2024-25 annual report, private revenue increased $98.1M (over 14%) from the previous year.

Where does that money go?

According to WSJ, "Some former staff members describe the national office as bloated, with too many employees making too much money in undefined roles."

A look at Planned Parenthood's 2025 990 revealed that their president, Alexis McGill-Johnson, acquired over $1M in "compensation" while overall compensation to corporation's executives at the national office alone totaled over $7M — an increase from 2024.

Planned Parenthood's 2024-25 expenses recorded $61.2M spent on "public policy," $13.2M to "engage communities," $56.9M for "advocacy," and $144.3M for "fundraising" that same year.

While the defunding measure cost Planned Parenthood $700 million in Medicaid dollars in 2025, the organization announced:

Fourteen states... publicly committed over $400 million in emergency funding to cover essential health care services for patients who use Medicaid insurance. [emphasis added]

These included:

• California: $320M

• Colorado: $4.4M

• Connecticut: $8.5M

• Illinois: $4M

• Maine: $2.25M

• Massachusetts: $7M

• Nevada: $1.2M

• New Mexico: $3M

• New York: $35M

• Oregon: $17.5M

• Rhode Island: $1M

• Vermont: $600k

• Washington: $15M

Abortions not impacted

Planned Parenthood's report claimed that "The nearly 30 Planned Parenthood health centers that have closed served approximately 10,400 abortion patients annually."

Yet, oddly, Planned Parenthood spokesperson Nora Walsh-DeVries admitted to Politico:

The impact of this defund did not result in less abortion care. It just resulted in less people being healthy, less people being able to get care and access... And there’s not a way to put a number on how many people were not able to come in and get a cancer screening, and what that did to them. [emphasis added]

Planned Parenthood's latest annual report indicated that it controls nearly 40% of the U.S. abortion market share, disbursing $3.7 million to assist more than 12,200 abortion clients that same year.

Since the year 2000, Planned Parenthood has:

• committed nearly 8M abortions (7,969,391) while providing just 331K prenatal care services.

• more than doubled its abortions (197k v 434.5k).

• received a greater than 310% increase in taxpayer funding (nearly $203M v $832M – year ending 6/30/2025).

Ironically, total cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood have dropped 82% in a 20-year period, from a high in 2004, well before the 2025 defund measure.

A 'lifeline' that kills?

Planned Parenthood wrote:

For many people who have no other way to get high-quality, affordable health care, Planned Parenthood health centers are a lifeline. Before “defunding” took effect, around half of all visits to Planned Parenthood health centers were from patients who relied on Medicaid, and 64% of Planned Parenthood health centers were located in health professional shortage areas, rural areas, or medically underserved areas.

It strains credulity to describe an organization that intentionally kills preborn human beings as a 'lifeline.' The organization's so-called "high quality" care has been diminishing for years. As clients, services, and facilities have decreased, the organization's abortions have skyrocketed.

While Planned Parenthood claims its locations are in "health professional shortage areas, rural areas, or medically underserved areas" it was actually closing facilities following a restructuring plan implemented well before the defunding effort.

In May of 2023, Planned Parenthood made a “strategic decision” to restructure and lay off staff at the national level, reportedly shifting those dollars to “build a powerful movement for abortion access at the local and state level.”

The decision followed the resignation of its “political organizer-in-chief,” the late Cecile Richards, as well as other high-ranking leaders. 

Medicaid patients 'going without care'?

Planned Parenthood claimed that since the defunding, Medicaid visits "dropped by about 25% or over 250,000 visits," suggesting "a significant number of patients who use Medicaid are simply going without care."

But is this a reasonable assumption?

Taking Planned Parenthood's word that its Medicaid clients simply went without any medical care is absurd on its face; in 2025, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), described as "important safety net providers in rural areas" outnumbered Planned Parenthood facilities by nearly 30:1, operating at "more than 16,000 sites" and serving "more than 32.4 million patients."

In 2025, Planned Parenthood's website claimed to operate around 600 facilities, and recently its president claimed that number was down to 550 facilities "serving" slightly more than 2M clients.

FQHC service data for 2025 is not available yet; however, comparing FQHC 2024 data to that of Planned Parenthood, we find:

• FQHCs performed nearly 13 times (12.61) more Pap tests than Planned Parenthood. 

• Overall cancer screenings (breast and Pap) at FQHCs outnumbered Planned Parenthood centers nearly 10 to 1.

• FQHCs provided nearly five times more HIV testing than Planned Parenthood.

• FQHCs provided more than 87 times the number of prenatal care services as Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood's services were declining even prior to the defund:

• Contraceptive services: decreased over 43% (from just over 4M) in 2009.

• Breast screenings: plummeted over 85% from 2000.

• STI testing: down over 43% since 2009.

Why It Matters:

Planned Parenthood had a "killer year," according to its 2024-2025 annual report, committing a record 434,450 abortions with nearly 8M abortions since 2000.

This funding continued despite accusations of abuse, scandal, fraud, racism, pregnancy discrimination, breaches of privacy, and Medicaid fraud piling up against Planned Parenthood — all of which violate federal requirements for obtaining taxpayer funding.

And while Planned Parenthood garners political sympathies and gains access to millions in state and federal tax dollars, average Americans are losing, as Business Insider recently documented:

• Since 2005, 110 of the US' rural hospitals have closed permanently, 24 of which have shut their doors in the last five years.

• Nearly 800 more rural hospitals are currently at risk closure due to financial distress, the Center for Healthcare Equity and Reform estimates.

•  Over 500 hospitals closed their labor and delivery departments in the last decade, more than half of which were in rural areas.

• A recent report from the Government Accountability Office found that more urban hospitals closed than opened between 2019 to 2023, with many reporting financial distress and outdated equipment in the years before closure.

The Bottom Line:

The only real "irreparable damage" taking place is the funding of a corporation that ends the lives of over 1,190 preborn human beings by abortion every single day, nearly 50 per hour, and one every 73 seconds.