Last Fourth of July, conservatives finally cut off federal Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. While this was an answer to the pro-life movement’s decadeslong prayers of defunding Planned Parenthood, there is now an expiring funding ban set to lapse this Independence Day. Without further congressional action, Congress is set to reinstate millions in taxpayer dollars for the abortion industry on America’s 250th birthday.
For more than four decades, Americans, regardless of their beliefs on abortion, have agreed that taxpayer dollars should not be used to fund something so divisive as abortion. That principle has enjoyed broad, bipartisan support and has been reaffirmed repeatedly by Congress through the Hyde Amendment. But even despite this long-standing bipartisan consensus, Planned Parenthood, America’s largest abortion provider, has received hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars through various federal programs in the past and will continue to receive funding in the future if the congressional ban is not reimposed.
Planned Parenthood insists that public funds do not directly pay for abortions. But money is fungible. When an organization receives over $600 million a year from taxpayers, it frees up other resources to fund its core business: abortion.
Congress now has an opportunity and the responsibility to extend the Planned Parenthood funding ban to realign federal policy with the law and the moral convictions of the people. Realistically, extending this partial fund can only be accomplished through the budget reconciliation process. That means Congress must not only advance another reconciliation bill this year, but it must do so before Independence Day, when the current funding ban expires.
For those unfamiliar with Planned Parenthood’s origins, infamous eugenicist Margaret Sanger founded the organization. She did not create the organization to “help struggling mothers,” “protect women’s rights,” or even provide “abortion out of necessity.” Planned Parenthood was established to accomplish her agenda of aborting people of color, people with special needs, and those who, in her opinion, would be a detriment to society. No accounting gimmick can erase this reality.
Taxpayers should not be compelled to subsidize an organization whose primary mission stands in direct opposition to the belief that every human life has inherent dignity and worth.
Defunding Planned Parenthood does not mean “defunding women’s healthcare.” That is perhaps the most persistent and misleading claim in this debate. Federally Qualified Health Centers outnumber Planned Parenthood facilities by more than 20 to 1 and provide comprehensive, community-based care to millions of women, including prenatal care, cancer screenings, birth control, and primary care services. Perhaps ironically, these centers also give women the real choice to keep and properly care for their babies, offering support for both mother and child.
These centers do not perform abortions, and they are already equipped to absorb patients without disruption. Redirecting taxpayer dollars toward these providers strengthens women’s healthcare, while ensuring that federal funds are used for life-affirming, comprehensive medical services — not abortion advocacy.
There is also a fundamental question about accountability.
Planned Parenthood has a long history of documented misconduct, including repeated failures to report sexual abuse, allegations of Medicaid fraud, and deeply troubling revelations about the handling of fetal remains. Any other organization with such a record would face intense scrutiny and loss of federal support. Planned Parenthood should not be treated as an untouchable political institution immune from oversight simply because of its influence and lobbying power.
At its core, this debate is about the proper role of government.
The federal government should not pick winners and losers in the abortion debate by forcing people to fund an organization that performs mass abortions on an industrial scale. In a pluralistic society, the least Congress can do is avoid compelling citizens to bankroll practices they find morally abhorrent.
Extending the Planned Parenthood funding ban is not radical. Rather, it is reasonable and consistent with long-standing federal policy. Despite what Planned Parenthood tried to argue in court, extending the ban is constitutional.
Cutting off federal funds will not stop Planned Parenthood entirely, as federal funds are only a small percentage of the organization’s funding. But what this means is that pro-life Americans were forced to fund a morally abhorrent organization that doesn’t even need their hard-earned tax dollars, prior to this ban.
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This ban protects taxpayers, strengthens legitimate healthcare providers, and affirms a basic moral truth: Taxpayer dollars should never be used to fund the taking of innocent human life. As the nation prepares to celebrate Independence Day, marking 250 years of freedom, it would be a profound irony to restore taxpayer funding to the nation’s largest abortion provider. Congress should act accordingly. Extend the ban — do not hand Planned Parenthood a gift this Independence Day.
Madeline Alfonso is the Digital Assistant at Advancing American Freedom. Paul Teller is the founder of Teller Strategies and a consultant for Advancing American Freedom. Teller previously served as the Executive Director and Executive Vice President of Advancing American Freedom.
