Editor’s Note: This article was updated on Thursday, July 2, to include a quote from National Right to Life.
(Oregon Right to Life) — Prominent leaders in the pro-life movement are encouraging Congress to permanently defund Planned Parenthood before the abortion business regains federal funding on July 4, 2026.
Last year, on July 4, President Donald Trump signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which included a provision stripping Planned Parenthood of federal Medicaid dollars for one year. But the abortion business is set to regain federal funding on July 4, 2026, unless Congress acts to extend the defunding by another year or permanently block Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid dollars.
Pro-life advocates including Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser and Live Action President Lila Rose are urging U.S. lawmakers to make the defunding permanent before the deadline.
“5 days left until abortion giant Planned Parenthood regains federal funding,” Rose said in a June 29 post on X. “Congress: Defund them permanently!
“Last year, on the Fourth of July, you helped accomplish something historic—the first ever defunding of Big Abortion businesses of their federal Medicaid dollars for one year,” Dannenfelser wrote in a June letter addressed to U.S. senators. “Taxpayers should never be forced to fund businesses that prey on women and unborn children and simultaneously fund hostile political interests.”
However, Dannenfelser warned, “that defunding provision will expire… on America’s 250th birthday—and Medicaid dollars will once again flow to these harmful entities.”
“[I]t is essential that Congress direct its attention towards another reconciliation bill that stops abortion businesses from receiving American taxpayer dollars,” she said.
On Thursday, National Right to Life issued a press release expressing “deep concern that taxpayer dollars will once again be available…” for the funding of Planned Parenthood.
“The resumption of taxpayer funding for the abortion industry is alarming,” Tobias said. “For decades, Americans have objected to being forced to subsidize organizations that profit from abortion. 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.”
“We are grateful to the Administration and to the many pro-life leaders in Congress who fought to prevent taxpayer dollars from subsidizing the abortion industry,” she said. “Their efforts produced an important, though temporary, victory for unborn children and taxpayers alike.:
As Oregon Right to Life previously reported, the Republican-led U.S. Congress passed a reconciliation bill on July 3, 2025, officially approving a provision cutting federal taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood for a year. President Trump signed the bill the following day.
READ: Congress Passes ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ Defunding Planned Parenthood for a Year
The official passage of the bill came after lengthy and contentious debate, with the U.S. Senate approving the bill in a narrow 51–50 vote (Vice President J.D. Vance acting as tie-breaker). The bill then returned to the U.S. House of Representatives, where it passed in a 218-214 vote.
The bill underwent numerous revisions in both chambers of Congress prior to its passage. Significantly, an earlier provision to strip taxpayer dollars from Planned Parenthood for a decade was reduced to a single year in the Senate shortly before its final passage. Despite the changes, the surviving version of the bill still cut funding to the abortion giant.
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 would trigger the permanent shuttering of hundreds of its facilities.
