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A sweeping budget reconciliation package — nicknamed the “Big Beautiful Bill” and now under committee review in the Senate — includes a provision to stop funding Planned Parenthood. Pro-life leaders say this would accomplish more for the cause than any pro-life legislation that has followed the 2022 reversal of Roe v. Wade.
If approved by Congress, the bill would block abortion providers from receiving federal taxpayer dollars for the next 10 years, potentially cutting off hundreds of millions of dollars from Planned Parenthood and its affiliates.
“We’re going to defund Planned Parenthood,” Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., said in a June 25 interview with Tony Perkins. “This will be the biggest win for your pro-life listeners since the Dobbs decision. So, I’m very proud of the work we’ve done on this bill.”
“I’m setting the over/under for Sunday at 10 am for the Senate to get their job done…. Then we’ll send it to the House,” Marshall added. “So don’t give up on us yet.”
According to Planned Parenthood’s latest annual report, the organization performed more than 400,000 abortions in 2023 and 2024 (total) and received nearly $800 million from taxpayers.
At a June 24 webcast rally, CatholicVote President Kelsey Reinhardt applauded the bill’s decade-long defunding provision and urged Congress to follow through.
“Taxpayer dollars should never fund the destruction of innocent human life, yet every year Planned Parenthood receives $800 million in taxpayer funds. And they perform around 40% of abortions in the US. Nearly half. That’s not just morally outrageous,” Reinhardt said. “That’s fiscally outrageous.”
“CatholicVote believes that defunding Planned Parenthood is not just a political responsibility. It’s a moral and fiscal responsibility,” she continued. “Our nation needs to restore sanctity to society but also sanity to our spending.”
Planned Parenthood has also come under fire for its role in prescribing cross-sex hormones to children. According to Live Action, a May report from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) identified the group as a “leading provider” of “gender-transition” drugs to minors.
Live Action investigations further revealed that facilities across multiple states were willing to prescribe cross-sex hormones to children, often without therapy, in-person evaluation, or parental consent.
Senate leadership aims to finalize the package before a self-imposed July 4 deadline.
As part of the process, Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, a nonpartisan official, is reviewing each provision to ensure it complies with the Byrd Rule, which limits reconciliation bills to measures that directly impact federal spending. Several sections — including the clause defunding Planned Parenthood — could be removed if deemed ineligible.
As the Senate moves toward a final vote, conservative lawmakers and pro-life groups are closely watching the outcome.
