(Oregon Right to Life) — Federal funding for Planned Parenthood has resumed after its one-year pause ended on July 4, 2026. Pro-life leaders are calling on Congress to use the means still at their disposal to implement a permanent freeze.
Planned Parenthood, America’s largest abortion corporation, was stripped of hundreds of thousands of federal Medicaid dollars in July, 2025, when Congress passed and President Donald Trump signed a budget reconciliation bill that cut hundreds of thousands of dollars in Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood for a year. The move was welcomed by pro-life advocates, who saw the funding freeze as a step in the right direction – even though they had hoped for a full stop to the use of federal taxpayer dollars to support Planned Parenthood, whose affiliates routinely perform about 40% of abortions nationwide.
After the cuts took effect, pro-life advocates continued to urge Congress to double down and extend or make permanent the defunding. However, in spite of those persistent efforts, Congress failed to act. On July 4, 2026, the one-year pause ended, and the federal taxpayer dollar funding stream to Planned Parenthood resumed.
“The resumption of taxpayer funding for the abortion industry is alarming,” Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life, said in a recent press release. “Taxpayer dollars should support health care providers that respect the lives of both mothers and their unborn children—not organizations whose business model depends upon ending innocent human lives.”
Tobias urged Congress to work for a permanent end to federal Planned Parenthood funding, directing the dollars instead to medical providers who offer a full range of life-affirming health care options.
Live Action founder Lila Rose, responding to the news that the one-year pause had ended without Congressional action, argued that, “On America’s 250 birthday, we should be allowing every child to have a birthday.” She encouraged pro-life advocates to take part in her organization’s 40-day prayer campaign, “Until It Ends,” to pray for an end to abortion in the United States.
Michael New, assistant professor of practice at the Busch School of Business at the Catholic University of America and a senior associate scholar at the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute, struck a somewhat optimistic tone, even while acknowledging that the resumption of funding was a disappointment.
“[A]ll is not lost,” New said in an article published by National Review. “It is possible that Congress could still pass a third reconciliation bill that would defund Planned Parenthood for the remainder of the fiscal year.”
New also pointed out that, “even if Planned Parenthood retains its eligibility for federal funds, a one-year defund still represents an important achievement for pro-lifers.” He argued that “defunding abortion has been a winning strategy for pro-lifers in the past” and “will continue to be a winning strategy for pro-lifers in the future.”
The defunding, though temporary, has had an impact.
A recent KFF report found that “[s]ince January 2025, 57 Planned Parenthood clinics across 20 states have closed or consolidated with other sites.” Exactly how many of these closures and mergers were forced by a lack of Medicaid funding is unclear; however, Planned Parenthood had estimated last year that the lack of funding could trigger the permanent shuttering of hundreds of its facilities.
Meanwhile, despite the resumption of federal Medicaid funding, the Trump administration continues to make moves that rattle the abortion industry.
This month, the HHS slashed $67 million in grants that had been going to Teen Pregnancy Prevention programs, including some carried out by Planned Parenthood affiliates. The HHS said the programs no longer aligned with agency priorities, arguing that the curriculum was “normalizing sexual activity for minors.”
The Trump administration’s FDA is also conducting a safety review of the abortion pill mifepristone, which is now used in over half of all abortions nationwide and is frequently prescribed online and sent through the mail, placing women at risk and undercutting state pro-life laws.
READ: FDA Confirms It’s Moving Forward with New Phase of Mifepristone Safety Review
Pro-life advocates hope – and pro-choice activists worry – that the review could trigger the reimplementation of earlier FDA regulations on mifepristone (particularly its previous prohibition on the drug being prescribed online and sent through the mail), or even lead the agency to reverse its approval of the pills altogether due to the risks attendant to women.
Pro-life advocates have long warned that the removal of significant regulations on mifepristone has exposed women to major risks, including improper prescription (as in the case of ectopic or later pregnancies), serious adverse events (including hemorrhaging, incomplete abortion, and sepsis), as well as coercion and forced abortion.
A conclusion of the FDA review is expected in September.
