Campaign to defund Planned Parenthood swings into high gear

A Planned Parenthood facility in Indianapolis. / Credit: Jonathan Weiss/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 12, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Pro-life organizations are stepping up their campaign to defund “big abortion” as the reconciliation bill is expected to come up for debate in the House Energy and Commerce Committee this week. 

On Wednesday, May 7, digital billboards with ads from pro-life organization Live Action lit up Times Square, urging passers-by to help defund Planned Parenthood.

Since the Trump administration announced its plan to defund Planned Parenthood in March, pro-life leaders have been working with lawmakers and urging citizens to contact their representatives with the hope the reconciliation bill will defund federally defund the organization by Memorial Day. 

With that date only weeks away, activists are campaigning to make it happen.

“Although there are multiple reasons why Planned Parenthood deserves to be defunded,” Live Action reported, “the billboard highlighted two main reasons that America’s biggest abortion business should lose the $700 million it receives from federal tax dollars each year.”

Live Action’s billboard messages focused on how the organization provides cross-sex hormones to minors and “commits” thousands of abortions every week.

One billboard displayed the number “1076” in large type. According to Planned Parenthood’s 2022-2023 annual report, that is the number of abortions the organization performs daily.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America (SBA) is also seeking to defund Planned Parenthood. On April 29, the organization held a gala in Washington, D.C., with pro-life supporters and legislators from across the country.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, told attendees there has “never been a more important moment to stand for this cause.”

Johnson explained that the reconciliation bill would redirect funds from “big abortion” to “federally qualified health centers.” 

Other federal legislators who attended included Sens. Jon Husted, R-Ohio; Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio; Tim Sheehy, R-Montana and Steve Daines, R-Montana.

The reconciliation bill cannot directly defund the abortions Planned Parenthood performs because under the Hyde Amendment, organizations already cannot use federal funds for abortion. However, the bill can stop taxpayer dollars from going toward Medicaid funds that Planned Parenthood and similar organizations use. 

Kelsey Pritchard, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America political communications director, told CNA that while President Donald Trump did reinstate the Hyde Amendment, the money is “fungible” and “Planned Parenthood’s largest federal funding comes through Medicaid reimbursements.”

Pritchard said former Planned Parenthood directors have told SBA that these funds support the abortion infrastructure by covering utilities, staffing, and patient intake for abortion-related operations rather than the women’s cancer and health screenings the money is intended for. 

The money is what enables it “to do nearly 400,000 abortions annually, all while they’re getting $2 million in tax money every single day. It’s really allowing them to keep their doors open,” she said.  

The pro-life movement is “unified” and “encouraged by the energy right now,” according to Pritchard.

“It’s a very popular move to get the American people out of the forced funding of abortion businesses. I think that’s why we’ve seen so much support and why we’re so hopeful that this is the time.”