(Oregon Right to Life) — Leaders in the pro-life movement responded scathingly to Planned Parenthood’s recent lawsuit against the Trump administration, blasting the group’s “desperate” bid to continue receiving federal taxpayer dollars. Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration Monday in response to the recently passed “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which stops the federal funding of the abortion business for a year.
“Planned Parenthood’s desperation is showing as they run to the courts again to fix a crisis of their own making,” said Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America director of legal affairs and policy counsel Katie Daniel in response to the Monday lawsuit.
National Right to Life president Carol Tobias said “It’s shameful—but not surprising—that Planned Parenthood is turning to the courts to overturn the will of the people and protect their multimillion-dollar abortion enterprise.”
On July 4, President Trump signed his sweeping budget reconciliation bill that included a provision eliminating taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion business, for one year. Planned Parenthood currently receives approximately 40% of its annual revenue from federal grants and reimbursements.
“After this kicks in, our country is going to be a rocket ship economically,” Trump said, adding: “the Golden Age of America is upon us.”
On Monday, Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in an effort to prevent enforcement of the bill’s provision stripping away its federal funding. Planned Parenthood Action Fund recently estimated that the federal defunding of Planned Parenthood could trigger the closure of almost 200 Planned Parenthood abortion facilities across the country.
“The prohibition specifically targets Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its member health care providers in order to punish them for lawful activity, namely advocating for and providing legal abortion access wholly outside the Medicaid program and without using any federal funds,” Planned Parenthood argued in its July 7 filing.
According to its official 2023–2024 report, Planned Parenthood brought in more than $2 billion in revenue during the year, $792.2 million (39%) of which came from the federal government. During the same period, the abortion giant reported performing a record 402,230 abortions. A 2025 Knights of Columbus-Marist poll found that 57% of respondents across political divides disagreed with using taxpayer dollars to finance abortion.
On the same day Planned Parenthood filed its lawsuit, Obama-appointed U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Massachusetts granted Planned Parenthood its requested restraining order, pausing enforcement of the federal defunding for two weeks.
A hearing has been scheduled for July 21.
The Trump administration is standing by the defunding of the abortion giant.
“The Trump Administration is ending the forced use of Federal taxpayer dollars to fund or promote elective abortion – a commonsense position that the overwhelming majority of Americans agree with,” a White House official told CBS.
Pro-life leaders have argued the legal action by Planned Parenthood represents a sense of “desperation” and underscores the necessity of the federal defunding.
“Planned Parenthood’s priority is abortion—not women’s health, not compassion, and certainly not life,” National Right to Life President Tobias said in her statement. “This lawsuit is a desperate attempt to maintain their grip on public dollars. But the American people are watching—and they deserve better than being forced to fund abortion providers.”
“President Trump and pro-life leaders in Congress delivered a major victory for unborn children, their mothers, and for taxpayers,” she added.
Similarly, SBA List’s Katie Daniel argued that Planned Parenthood’s move to “double down on lawfare and abortion politics” shows “exactly why the One Big Beautiful Bill is a historic victory for the people, stopping half a billion dollars in forced taxpayer funding of the corrupt abortion industry for the first time.”
“Life is winning and the nation’s abortion giant won’t be missed as their long decline continues,” Daniel said. “With far more accessible and comprehensive community health centers outnumbering Planned Parenthoods 15 to 1, women have real choices for their health care needs.”
Lila Rose, founder and president of Live Action, argued the restraining order against the federal defunding is an example of “[u]njust judicial activism that should be immediately overruled by higher courts.”
As Oregon Right to Life previously noted, the federal Hyde Amendment already prohibits the use of taxpayer money to pay for abortions. However, Planned Parenthood has qualified for federal dollars due to offering a small number of reproductive services or products, including STI testing and contraception.
Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood is likely to experience increased defunding at the state level as well as the federal level thanks to a June decision by the U.S. Supreme Court decision affirming that states have the right to exclude Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funds. The decision frees up states with pro-life leaders to cut taxpayer funding to the abortion giant.
