Sen. Todd Young: Republicans Must Prioritize Defunding Planned Parenthood (EXCLUSIVE)
Congress must look beyond temporary stopgaps to permanently separate taxpayer dollars from the moral stain of abortion.
As Americans marked the United States' 250th birthday on the Fourth of July, Planned Parenthood had another reason to celebrate: the expiration of its Medicaid defunding.
It remains unclear exactly how much Medicaid funding Planned Parenthood lost this past year. An activist judge blocked enforcement of the one-year ban on reimbursements to major nonprofit abortion providers—embedded in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act—for several months before it could take effect. But with clinics now shuttering left and right, the influx of taxpayer money is likely just what the abortionist ordered to save the struggling giant.
And business as usual at Planned Parenthood comes at a hefty price for taxpayers. The organization received $832 million—about 38 percent of its total revenue—in government funding over the 2024–2025 fiscal year, according to its latest annual report.
Pro-life leaders have called on congressional Republicans to pass another Medicaid block, but Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) told Restoration News that he hasn't seen "any formal proposals" to that effect.
"But I think, here, we need to go much further," Young added. "We cannot require Americans who have moral objections to this practice of abortion—religious objections, in so many cases—to violate their deepest convictions with their taxpayer money. And so, this has to be a priority for the Republican Party moving forward. It certainly won't be a priority of the Democratic Party."
Though taxpayer-funded abortion has long been prohibited by the Hyde Amendment, Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers may still receive Medicaid reimbursements and federal grants for other services. Young wants to close that loophole.
"We know that those monies are what economists would call fungible," he explained. "They may be used to fix the roof, but then the money that was set aside for the capital budget is used to perform unacceptable and morally objectionable abortions. We want to make sure that never happens. The moral stain of that sort of activity is not something that our taxpayers should have to subsidize."
A Moral Obligation
As a pro-life Christian representing a staunchly pro-life state, Young has left no confusion about where he stands on the issue of abortion. "I believe that God tells us to protect the most vulnerable, and these are our beautiful children, and we all have a moral and social obligation to protect them," he said.
Not everyone views such matters through a faith-based lens. Yet even from a purely rational perspective, Young said the pro-life position is also the more reasonable one.
"For people who don't adopt a position based on faith alone, it becomes very difficult for them to define at what point in development that child should be considered a legal person," he noted. "Shouldn't we adopt a precautionary principle for something so precious and important? And the precautionary principle would be, if you're not quite certain, then let's default on the side of life and protection."
To that end, passing the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act would be a good first step. The bill, which Young introduced alongside Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) in April, aims to permanently prevent all organizations that perform abortions from receiving Title X family planning grants. Unfortunately, its advancement has stalled in the Senate.
Young has also led calls for the Trump administration to reinstate the "Protect Life" rule. The 2019 rule, finalized under the first Trump administration, barred Title X family planning grantees from referring patients for abortions or sharing space with abortion clinics. It also required strict financial separation between Title X funds and money used for abortions.
The Biden administration suspended those requirements, mandating that grantees also refer patients for abortions. When the health departments of Tennessee and Oklahoma—two pro-life states—refused, the Biden administration stripped them of their Title X funding.
On May 26, Young joined with 158 other members of Congress in urging Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to "correct the misguided actions of the previous administration" and reinstate the Protect Life rule.
To his credit, the secretary appears to be doing just that.
Scrubbing the Stain
A newly released Title X funding notice would once again prohibit abortion referrals and require financial separation from abortion providers. It would also require grantees to "contribute to broader HHS efforts to safeguard life-affirming, lawful, and ethical program delivery."
That shift is significant. A policy that requires "life-affirming" program delivery—as opposed to mandatory abortion referrals—is a breath of fresh air.
The notice also announces the HHS Office of Population Affairs' intention to prioritize natural family planning. Noting the healthcare industry's "overreliance on pharmaceutical and surgical treatments," it emphasizes OPA's shift away from contraceptives toward restoring "optimal health and addressing underlying root causes" of reproductive health concerns. To that end, 2027 grant recipients will be required to offer body and health literacy counseling as part of their family planning services.
And the good news doesn't end there. Stateline reports that HHS canceled 53 of its 67 Teen Pregnancy Prevention grants—worth about $68 million—allegedly because the recipients failed to align with agency priorities. Planned Parenthood affiliates were reportedly among the groups slated to receive those grants.
Together, these moves reflect the Trump administration's new focus on family formation—a much-needed course correction amid falling fertility rates and rising abortions.
Still, there is more to be done.
Planned Parenthood is once again receiving fungible Medicaid dollars. Women and babies are being poisoned by dangerous abortion drugs. And Democrat-run states are waging a silent civil war on pro-life states and their residents.
Young has urged the Food and Drug Administration to reevaluate the abortion pill's safety and halt the illegal mailing of abortion drugs, a practice the agency greenlit under the Biden administration.
"We need to support our states," Young said. "We need to support the people who have been able to shape the laws of their respective states on this issue, but they don't have control over the mail or the distribution of these products."
Despite the pleas of pro-life organizations, federal lawmakers, and 22 attorneys general, the Trump administration has yet to rectify this problem. Nevertheless, Young said he still believes positive change may be on the horizon.
"To really activate the sort of change we need and therefore unleash the encouragement and advocacy that will be required to get our government to move, we have to believe that change is possible," Young said.
With midterm elections approaching this fall, the senator urged pro-life advocates to remain "passionate in their belief that we need to move" to safeguard human life, "and we need to move boldly and quickly."
LIFE & ABORTION NEWS:
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