Advocates call on Trump, Congress to permanently defund Planned Parenthood

CNA Staff, Oct 24, 2025 / 14:22 pm (CNA).

Life-affirming organizations are calling on the Trump administration and Congress to permanently block funding to Planned Parenthood.

In an Oct. 22 letter, Students for Life Action President Kristan Hawkins and more than 50 signers asked President Donald Trump to debar Planned Parenthood from federal funding because of reports of the trafficking of baby body parts as well as possible fraud and failure to report sex crimes, among other complaints.

In another letter sent the same day, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and more than 100 signers asked Congress to remove the loophole created by the Affordable Care Act that enables government money to go to Planned Parenthood.

While the Trump administration cut funding to the abortion giant for one year in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, pro-life advocates say Planned Parenthood should go through debarment, a significant legal process to block businesses from receiving government funding due to misconduct, fraud, or other concerns.

“Planned Parenthood’s track record shows that they should not be allowed to receive a single penny of taxpayer support,” Hawkins said in the letter. “They are unqualified to work for the American taxpayer.”

More than 50 organizations and legislators signed the Students for Life letter, including Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, National Right to Life, Americans United for Life, Family Research Council, Family Policy Alliance, Concerned Women for America, Live Action, and Center for Medical Progress. 

“To debar Planned Parenthood — block them from all federal support — we simply need an honest look at their behavior and the kind of ‘service’ they are selling,” Hawkins said in a statement shared with CNA. 

“Think of this like a long overdue job review after many complaints all leading to one conclusion — Planned Parenthood should be fired,” she said.  

There are more than 5,300 federally qualified health centers that specifically provide women’s health services, while Planned Parenthood has less than 600 facilities in the U.S., according to Students for Life Action. 

“Women and girls won’t miss Planned Parenthood,” Hawkins said. “Federally qualified health centers outnumber Planned Parenthood and can easily absorb their current traffic while providing women and families with the wide range of real health care they need.”  

In the Susan B. Anthony group’s letter to Congress, signers urged Congress “to unequivocally oppose any consideration of extending the COVID-era subsidies without Hyde [Amendment] protections.”

The Hyde Amendment prevents the federal government from directly funding abortion, but a plan by Democrats could expand Obamacare-funded abortions, permanently extending what was initially a temporary welfare program. 

“Obamacare forces taxpayers to subsidize insurance plans that pay for abortion on demand,” SBA President Marjorie Dannenfelser said. “And under the guise of COVID relief, President Biden took it even further, massively expanding those subsidies and the flow of taxpayer dollars to abortion.”

“Extending these subsidies without the Hyde Amendment is a vote to expand abortion on demand,” Dannenfelser said.

Rebecca Weaver, the policy director for the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, noted that abortion harms both the child and the mother. 

“Induced abortion is not health care,” Weaver told CNA. “It ends the life of our fetal patient and often causes significant harm to our maternal patient.”  

“As life-affirming medical professionals, we are joining the call against the renewal of the Obamacare subsidy for abortion (through the abortion surcharge) that forces American citizens to fund the harmful and deadly practice of induced abortion,” Weaver continued.

“We support, instead, life-affirming policies that improve the health care that all of our patients receive and their access to that health care,” Weaver said. 

“The more Washington funds abortion, the more unborn children lose their lives, and the more moms are hurt,” Dannenfelser added. “This pro-life Congress must not extend the Obama-Biden legacy of taxpayer-funded abortion that ends the lives of countless innocent babies.”

Source: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/267393/advocates-call-on-trump-congress-to-permanently-defund-planned-parenthood