In a meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson, GOP Reps. Mike Lawler, Brian Fitzpatrick, and Jen Kiggans reportedly opposed defunding Planned Parenthood in the upcoming reconciliation bill.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — A handful of Republicans in Congress are threatening to derail the upcoming budget reconciliation bill if federal funding for Planned Parenthood is not preserved.
One draft released over the weekend by the House Energy & Commerce Committee includes language that bars Medicaid reimbursements to entities that commit abortions, but some are worried that if the language survives to the final bill it could be a sticking point for the narrow House majority.
NOTUS reports that, during a recent private meeting with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, GOP Reps. Mike Lawler, Brian Fitzpatrick, and Jen Kiggans voiced their opposition to including language that defunded the nation’s largest abortion giant.
When asked about the allegations, Lawler told the publication that “I’m not for taking away people’s health care [...] Planned Parenthood does provide a lot of services outside of abortion-related services, and so, you know, I’d have to see what they’re proposing.” Fitzpatrick seemed to confirm his position by declaring “we need simplicity in this bill [...] I think there’s other policy areas that we need to focus on.”
Kiggans’s office issued a statement claiming she was “taken out of context,” and that she “is proudly pro-life and firmly opposes any federal funding for abortion,” and “supports thoughtful, targeted Medicaid reforms that strengthen the program, preserve its integrity, and ensure it serves those who it was originally intended to help.”
As for Johnson, he told a recent Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America gala that the reconciliation bill was “going to redirect funds away from Big Abortion.” However, the Speaker said it “was not on our agenda” when asked by NOTUS if the matter was discussed during the meeting.
When asked about the ambivalence of certain representatives by National Review, President Donald Trump was noncommittal: "I don't know yet. I have to see because you just told me that for the first time, we'll work something out."
Within weeks of returning to office, Trump began enforcing the Hyde Amendment (which forbids most federal funds from directly supporting elective abortions), reinstated the Mexico City Policy (which forbids non-governmental organizations from using taxpayer dollars for elective abortions abroad), and cut millions in pro-abortion subsidies by freezing U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) spending.
In March, the administration froze Title X “family planning” grants to nonprofits it said violated its executive orders on immigration and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, including Planned Parenthood affiliates in nine states.
Last year, Planned Parenthood’s most recent annual report revealed that its affiliates across the nation took in $699.3 million in government “health services” reimbursements and grants, accounting for 39 percent of its total revenue during that period.
Losing some of that money has taken a considerable toll, causing closures in several states, and while evidence indicates that so-called “telehealth” abortions have helped sustain the industry after Roe, it cannot fully cancel out the deterrent effect of making surgical abortions harder to obtain.
Other Republicans have proposed two different measures to fully cut off Planned Parenthood’s government funding: the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act, which permanently bans federal funds from being used for abortion; and the Defund Planned Parenthood Act, which disqualifies Planned Parenthood and its affiliates specifically.
