Planned Parenthood Defunding Expires, Pro-Life Groups Call for Congress to Act

Planned Parenthood Defunding Expires, Pro-Life Groups Call for Congress to Act

By Steven Ertelt. July 6, 2026.

A one-year prohibition on federal Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood expired Saturday, restoring taxpayer dollars to the nation's largest abortion business on America's 250th birthday.

The expiration prompted strong condemnation from pro-life advocates who called on Congress and President Trump to immediately restore the defunding.

The ban, part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed by President Trump on July 4, 2025, had blocked Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood and similar abortion organizations that kill unborn babies. Its expiration allows federal funds to resume flowing to the group for non-abortion activities.

But pro-life groups say those non-abortion activities can be done at legitimate medical centers and doctors offices or hospitals where babies are not killed.

Live Action Founder and President Lila Rose sharply criticized the failure to extend the policy.

"On America's 250th birthday, Congress had the chance to honor the founding promise that every human being has a God-given right to life. Instead, by failing to extend the defunding of Planned Parenthood, lawmakers have allowed taxpayer dollars to flow back to the largest abortion chain in the nation. This is a moral failure and an urgent betrayal of preborn children, women, and American taxpayers," Rose said.

She added: "Planned Parenthood is not a neutral health care organization. It is an abortion corporation that kills hundreds of thousands of innocent children every year, profits from the destruction of families, pushes dangerous gender ideology, and then uses its political machine to attack the very lawmakers deciding whether to fund it. Congress should never force Americans to subsidize this violence."

During the defunding period, Planned Parenthood saw a few dozen abortion centers close and a significant drop in Medicaid patients as the abortion company refused to stop killing babies to get the federal funds.

Rose urged swift action to correct the lapse.

"This failure must be corrected immediately. President Trump and Congress must act as fast as possible to restore and extend the defunding of Planned Parenthood and every organization that commits abortion. It is a horrific and preventable atrocity that on the very day we are celebrating our blessed liberty, our federal government is once again funding the killing of our own children," she said.

Live Action will lead a Nationwide Day of Prayer on July 16 with a live webcast featuring Rose and other prominent pro-life voices.