IPM: Anti-abortion politicians can't help themselves – they're trying to "defund" Planned Parenthood, again. 

TO: Interested Parties
FROM: Planned Parenthood Action Fund
RE: Anti-abortion politicians can’t help themselves – they’re trying to “defund" Planned Parenthood, again.
DATE: Friday, July 14, 2023

Anti-abortion rights politicians in Congress just can’t help themselves. At every turn, they have ignored the will of the people – the very people they represent – to advance a dangerous, unpopular agenda in an effort to achieve their ultimate goal: a national abortion ban.

Their dedication to restricting access to sexual and reproductive health at all costs has shown them to be woefully out of touch with medical care, evidence-based research, and the majority of the American people. Their latest scam? Manipulating the federal appropriations process to attempt to “defund” Planned Parenthood and further block access to sexual and reproductive health care. This comes amidst an ongoing lawsuit before a Texas federal judge also threatening to shut down Planned Parenthood.

But, who is surprised? These are the same out-of-touch politicians that made banning abortion their number one priority of the year, even after the midterm elections in which voters made it clear: politicians have no business telling us what we can or cannot do with our bodies. 

Planned Parenthood health centers served 2.1 million patients in 2021 alone, providing 4.4 million tests and treatments for sexually transmitted infections, nearly 200,000 breast exams, more than 228,000 Pap tests, and birth control to nearly 1.6 million people. Seventy-six (76%) of Planned Parenthood health centers are located in health professional shortage areas, rural, and medically underserved communities. 

To put it simply, trying to “defund” Planned Parenthood means trying to take away access to essential health care for people they likely represent. Not to mention, three-quarters of Americans support continuing funding for Planned Parenthood, including the majority of Republicans. 

This effort to “defund” Planned Parenthood is just the latest addition to the long list of dangerous actions these members have taken in the House since a very slim anti-abortion majority gained power this Congress, including through annual funding bills. 

Running List of Attacks on Sexual and Reproductive Health in the 2024 House Appropriations Process (So Far)*: 

• In the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies bill, anti-abortion rights House members included measures designed to:
  • “Defund” Planned Parenthood by preventing Planned Parenthood organizations from participating in health programs funded through Congress’s annual Labor-HHS bill. 
  • Eliminate funding for and attempts to further undermine the Title X family planning program.
  • Eliminate funding for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, while funding abstinence-only programs. 
  • Prohibit Medicaid from covering abortion through the discriminatory Hyde Amendment, and attempt to expand the harmful Weldon Amendment. 
  • Stop implementation of various Biden administration executive orders intended to increase access to abortion care for people impacted by state bans post-Dobbs decision. 
  • Prohibit the implementation of the Biden administration’s executive order on gender identity and sexual orientation discrimination which would prevent and combat discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation, and fully enforce Title VII and other laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation. 
• In the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies bill, anti-abortion rights House members included measures designed to:
  • Overturn a rule issued by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) that allows — for the first time — the VA to provide veterans and their eligible dependents abortion care in cases of rape or incest or in cases where the pregnancy would threaten the life or health of the pregnant person.
  • Ban funding for abortion care through VA, which could ban both coverage and provision of abortion care through VA in all but narrow exceptions. 
• In the Department of Defense bill, anti-abortion rights House members included measures designed to:
  • Repeal Department of Defense (DOD) policies that ensure service members and their loved ones can travel off base or away from their station, and receive travel and transportation allowances for abortion care they can’t access in the military.
    • Anti-abortion rights lawmakers are also attacking abortion access and access to gender-affirming care for service members and their loved ones in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) — an annual must-pass bill.
• In the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies bill, anti-abortion rights House members included measures designed to:
  • Force back in place burdensome, medically unnecessary restrictions on mifepristone that FDA lifted earlier this year after extensive, evidence-based review. 
• In the Financial Services and General Government bill, anti-abortion rights House members included measures designed to:
  • Ban coverage of abortion for federal employees and their dependents who access health care through the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), with very limited exceptions. 
  • Ban the District of Columbia using local funds to cover abortion services, except under very limited circumstances, under its version of the Medicaid program.
  • Impose reporting requirements and attempts to stigmatize abortion providers and intentionally spread misinformation about sexual and reproductive health care.
  • Overturn a District of Columbia law protecting employees from being fired for their personal reproductive health care decisions.
• In the Homeland Security bill, anti-abortion rights House members included measures designed to:
  • Ban the coverage and provision of abortion services for individuals under U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody except in very narrow exceptions,  dangerously jeopardizing the health of people in detention. 
  • Restrict gender-affirming care for people in ICE custody.
• In the Commerce, Justice, and Science bill, anti-abortion rights House members included measures designed to:
  • Ban abortion coverage for people detained in federal prisons with very narrow exceptions
  • Block DOJ from suing any State or local government over their abortion laws, or to intervene or file an amicus brief in such a case.
• In the State and Foreign Operations bill, anti-abortion rights House members included measures designed to: 
  • Cap international family planning and reproductive health care funding at $461 million, a nearly 25% cut that would result in over 8 million women losing access to contraception; 
  • Ban funding for UNFPA, the UN’s sexual and reproductive health agency; 
  • Permanently and legislatively imposing the Trump administration’s expanded version of the global gag rule; 
  • Maintain the Helms Amendment in addition to restrictions on abortion coverage for Peace Corps volunteers.

* Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s review of the various amendments and proposals put forth in the FY24 appropriations process is ongoing. 

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Planned Parenthood Action Fund is an independent, nonpartisan, not-for-profit membership organization formed as the advocacy and political arm of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. The Action Fund engages in educational, advocacy, and limited electoral activity, including grassroots organizing, legislative advocacy, and voter education.