Weighing in at over 1,100 pages, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) that passed the House last month had a little something for everyone, as an omnibus-style bill tends to.
But one thing it didn’t have was a key source of funding for Planned Parenthood — a cherished goal of pro-life advocates everywhere that is perhaps one step closer to reality thanks to its one-vote passage. “Today, Congress took a big step toward stopping forced taxpayer funding of the Big Abortion industry,” said SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser when the bill passed last month. “This is a crucial win in the fight against America’s #1 cause of death — abortion — and against waste and corruption.”
Indeed, a provision in the OBBBA prohibits Medicaid funding of Planned Parenthood, and combined with an earlier executive order from President Donald Trump that froze federal funding to over 100 of their clinics, the abortion mill may lose another key source of revenue.
“The numbers are so devastating that there are really no options other than closing some centers and consolidating others, and then investing in our virtual health centers that can serve people across the state,” wailed Ashlea Phenicie, chief external affairs officer of Planned Parenthood of Michigan. That report predictably included the old saw that abortion is only 4% of Planned Parenthood’s services, but it fails to mention the much larger share of revenue it provides than the STD treatment that supposedly accounts for over half its services. With money being fungible, that dollar sent by Medicare into PP’s vast pot of funding can easily be redirected to provide an abortion, which Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is investigating. She claims, “Despite receiving 39 percent of its annual revenue from federal funds intended for essential health services, such as cancer screenings and wellness exams, Planned Parenthood is increasingly using its resources to offer abortions to its patients.”
Another line of attack from the abortion industry is the supposed confusion being caused by President Trump rescinding Biden-era guidance put in place shortly after the Dobbs decision that, under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), abortions would be considered as “stabilizing care” in medical emergencies where the life of the mother is at stake. However, several states have abortion bans without a “life of the mother” exception, and a trio of lawsuits have been filed by doctors in states with abortion bans demanding more clarification on the matter.
“If a patient is actively hemorrhaging or experiencing an ectopic pregnancy, which is also life-threatening,” said Autumn Katz, associate director of U.S. litigation at the Center for Reproductive Rights, “then doctors need that clear guidance that yes, EMTALA applied.” However, given the fact that only about 1-2% of pregnancies are ectopic, this would be the “rare” in the old Democrat pro-abortion mantra of “safe, legal, and rare.”
Unfortunately, as we have seen many times before, pro-life advocates may be disappointed once again. Early on, it was learned that three House Republicans were willing to keep Planned Parenthood funded, and while all three were convinced by Speaker Mike Johnson to vote yes on the OBBBA with the PP cuts, pressure from the abortion lobby has to be countered to keep them in line once the Senate sends the bill back to the House.
“For decades, the party has talked about the pro-life values held by most of its voters,” explained Students for Life Action president Kristan Hawkins. “For decades, it has fundraised on the issue. For decades, it has enjoyed the enthusiastic support of a grassroots army of volunteers. To keep faith with pro-life voters and decades of commitments, it’s time to turn campaign words into legislative deeds.”
While the Left will continually toss out “Handmaid’s Tale” imagery and accuse Republicans of wanting women to be barefoot and pregnant, the reality is that Planned Parenthood, a nonprofit abortion provider, would lose a major source of funding. If it’s that important to those on that side of the aisle to maintain it as an entity, they are certainly free to open up their personal wallets and donate to their cause. If Planned Parenthood got out of the abortion business, which, after all, is supposedly only 4% of its services, then there may not be such drama around its existence. (It could also back out of the so-called “gender-affirming care” game, as our Emmy Griffin has detailed.) We know that Planned Parenthood is big, but it’s the complete opposite of beautiful, and the OBBBA looks to be a remedy for that.
In the meantime, pro-life nonprofits that don’t receive federal funding — and are a constant target in blue states who are trying to force them to be abortion advocates — could use a break. Fortunately, many millions in the pro-life movement are on their side, though, giving them the funding needed to speak the truth that abortion isn’t the only alternative.
