Push to defund Planned Parenthood turns up as policy left out of reconciliation 3.0

Anti-abortion groups are turning up their activism after a prohibition on Medicaid funding going to abortion providers like Planned Parenthood was left out of Republicans’ reconciliation 3.0 framework.

The dynamic threatens to exacerbate the tension between Republicans and anti-abortion activists, who were already expressing displeasure with the Trump administration for failing to use executive authority on issues like rolling back approval for medication used in abortions to be delivered by mail.

A one-year ban on abortion providers being able to bill Medicaid for non-abortion services, which was included in the GOP’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act that President Trump signed last year, expired on July 5.

Anti-abortion activists have for months been calling for such a provision to be included in another bill that could go through the same special budget reconciliation process that bypasses the threat of a Democratic filibuster in the Senate, allowing Republicans to push partisan legislation through both chambers. 

Republicans’ second shot at a reconciliation bill, however, was a “skinny” package aimed at restoring funding for immigration enforcement and Border Patrol. And this week, House Republicans released a $95 billion reconciliation 3.0 framework teeing up money for defense, farm aid, and grants to encourage voting restrictions — omitting any measures to offset that new spending, or any other special provisions, including the measure to restrict Medicaid funds from going to abortion providers.

“Abortion defunding is the ideal offset, saving hundreds of millions in unethical spending year over year. Punting defunding from one iteration of reconciliation to the next is fiscally illogical and a waste of taxpayer dollars. Save America money and restore abortion defunding,” said Gavin Oxley, media relations manager at Americans United for Life.

Planned Parenthood........

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