President Donald Trump’s return to the White House is reviving a push to defund Planned Parenthood, with abortion opponents seeing a rare chance to pass the language through Republicans’ sweeping budget bill.
Conservatives have tried for years to strip federal funding from the abortion provider, only to see their efforts fall short in Congress or reversed when administrations change hands.
With limited exceptions, federal law already bars taxpayer dollars from being used for abortions, but the organization receives hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicaid reimbursements that anti-abortion groups want blocked as well.
Planned Parenthood also provides contraception and health services, such as STD screenings, that qualify under the program.
Trump has begun to pull some funding for Planned Parenthood. Last month, the administration froze tens of millions in Title X dollars directed to family planning centers, targeting Planned Parenthood affiliates in several states.
But anti-abortion activists see reconciliation, a budget process that allows Republicans to sidestep the filibuster, as the best avenue to pursue a broader and longer-lasting prohibition. Trump pursued a similar freeze in his first term that was reversed by former President Joe Biden.
Outside groups such as Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America have been engaging with lawmakers one-on-one while also applying public pressure. In March, hundreds of activists visited congressional offices in the House and Senate in a Washington lobbying blitz.
There are signs those groups will find opposition from a crop of centrist Republicans uncomfortable with defunding the organization.
Swing district lawmakers such as Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) have already begun to air concerns, throwing into doubt whether the language will be included in the GOP megabill, which sweeps together Trump’s tax, border, and energy priorities. The Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over Medicaid, has yet to release its legislative text ahead of a Tuesday markup.
Yet Republicans, by and large, support defunding Planned Parenthood, arguing the Medicaid funding indirectly supports its abortion procedures.
A week ago, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) promised the House will “redirect funds away from big abortion” through reconciliation. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has also aligned himself with the anti-abortion movement, attending this year’s March for Life with Johnson in January.
“We know that this is achievable,” said Kelsey Pritchard, a spokeswoman for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.
“We’ve got the Republican trifecta, we’ve got strong pro-life leaders in the House and the Senate, and basically what we’ve heard is that people are enthused overall to get this done,” she added.
The first step will come next week, when the Energy and Commerce Committee holds a hearing to sign off on its portion of the megabill.
The lion’s share of the controversy has focused on separate Medicaid reforms, with fiscal hawks seeking to roll back the generous federal subsidies offered to expansion states, but Planned Parenthood could become another flashpoint if the legislation includes defunding language.
Committee Republicans would then have to reject any Democratic attempts to strip the provision from the underlying bill.
The language could also threaten its passage on the House floor, though it’s unclear how deep concerns run among centrist Republicans. Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) is open to defunding Planned Parenthood as part of reconciliation, telling the Washington Examiner that “a lot of folks don’t like their taxpayer money going to the largest abortion provider in the country.”
Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) is also receptive. Both lawmakers have caused headaches for GOP leadership, vowing in the reconciliation fight to oppose any bill that deeply cuts Medicaid benefits.
Ultimately, unease over Planned Parenthood defunding could be dwarfed by bigger fights over the bill. In addition to Medicaid, blue-state Republicans are bartering for an expansion of SALT, a tax deduction that tends to help higher-income earners.
But Republicans could face pressure in their districts from Planned Parenthood and its allied groups. They have run ads accusing Republicans of attempting to strip healthcare from women during past defunding attempts.
In a statement, the organization promised to “fight like hell” to make sure its funding is preserved. Last year, 34% of its revenue fell under the umbrella of “government health services reimbursements & grants.”
“Federal Medicaid funds don’t pay for abortion except in rare exceptions, but that’s not stopping these lawmakers from going after Planned Parenthood,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. “They’re set on depriving patients, particularly people who already have the hardest time getting healthcare, of access to affordable cancer screenings, birth control, STI testing and treatment, and many other essential reproductive healthcare services.”
So far, Planned Parenthood has survived GOP attempts at defunding. In 2011, the House passed the provision in a fight over government funding, but the language was removed ahead of a shutdown deadline.
The measure even made it to then-President Barack Obama’s desk in 2016 but was vetoed.
With unified control of Washington, anti-abortion activists have renewed that push, describing it as their “first priority” with Trump’s reelection. But the Senate will pose a challenge regardless of which party is in charge.
The Senate, too, has GOP centrists who are expected to oppose the provision. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) hasn’t explicitly drawn a red line, but she and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) have a long track record of voting to protect the organization.
Both unsuccessfully tried to remove the defunding language when it came before the Senate in late 2015.
“I’m going to wait and see what the full package is rather than singling out individual provisions,” Collins told reporters on Tuesday.
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The strict rules of budget reconciliation pose a second hurdle for anti-abortion groups. In 2017, the last time Republicans had unified control, the parliamentarian ruled the defunding language must be struck from their Obamacare repeal legislation.
If Republicans’ budget bill fails this time, as it did with Obamacare repeal, they would likely have to wait for the next fiscal year to make another push through reconciliation.
Lauren Green contributed to this report.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
