Pro-life groups unhappy as Planned Parenthood again receiving federal dollars
By Scott Barkley - Posted at Baptist Press:
Published July 22, 2026
NASHVILLE (BP) – The expiration of a one-year provision in the Big Beautiful Bill that defunded Planned Parenthood has pro-life groups and supporters questioning whether their voices are still being heard in defense of the unborn.President Donald Trump’s reconciliation bill that was signed on July 4, 2025, brought celebration among those who had worked for years to prevent federal funding to the nation’s leading abortion provider, even if the stipulation was for only one year. However, Planned Parenthood now stands to receive more than $800 million annually.
Those funds come through Medicaid and are specified for non-abortive services. Pro-life leaders, though, argue that they nonetheless bolster Planned Parenthood’s finances and thereby its capability to provide abortions.
“Last summer, the pro-life movement celebrated a historic milestone: the first federal defunding of Planned Parenthood and other large abortion providers,” said Evan Lenow, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. “We celebrate the impact this one-year provision had on the lives that were saved and the abortion clinics that permanently closed their doors, but we grieve that its expiration means that Planned Parenthood can now, once again, receive federal reimbursements under Medicaid.”
In numerous meetings he took part in last week in Washington, D.C., Lenow said, he urged lawmakers to take actions that strip “federal funding entirely” from Planned Parenthood and other large abortion providers.
