Mystifying: Did the Trump administration restores funding to Planned Parenthood? Trump & Kennedy claim ignorance.

 

Trump administration restores Title X funding to Planned Parenthood

Tens of millions of dollars of funding have been restored for Planned Parenthood’s birth control and other non-abortion services.

By Kate Quiñones

January 14, 2026

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday denied knowledge of reports that his administration has restored millions of taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood.

According to Jan. 13 report in Politico, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) last month restored Title X funding to Planned Parenthood. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Monday dropped a lawsuit against the administration related to this funding.

Planned Parenthood and some other clinics will be able to submit reimbursement receipts to the government for low-income patients who received birth control and other non-abortion services, according to the Politico report.

While the funding won’t directly cover abortion — the Hyde Amendment prevents the federal government from doing so — the funding will subsidize an organization that performs hundreds of thousands of abortions yearly. 

When asked about the report on Wednesday, Trump told reporters: “I don’t know anything about that.”

“I have not heard that,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. added.

The issue immediately stirred controversy in the pro-life movement. Many pro-lifers have spoken out against the move, calling on the administration to fully defund Planned Parenthood. Others have defended the Trump administration, saying it was their best legal option.

Live Action and Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America (SBA), two organizations that advocate for legal protections for unborn children, have been urging the Trump administration to completely defund Planned Parenthood.

“The Trump administration has quietly restored millions of dollars in Title X grants to Planned Parenthood that it had withheld since March of 2025,” said Lila Rose, founder of Live Action, in a statement shared with EWTN News. “PP kills 1,102 babies daily with your taxpaying dollars. We must fully defund abortion corporation Planned Parenthood!”

While the first Trump administration enacted a “Protect Life Rule” that stopped abortions from using Title X funding, the second administration has not yet done so.

SBA urged the administration to “immediately reinstate” this rule.

“The Protect Life Rule from the 1st Trump admin stopped Big Abortion businesses from using Title X taxpayer $$ as a slush fund. Biden canceled it,” read a statement shared with EWTN News. “The Trump admin must immediately reinstate it.”

Members of the country’s pro-life movement are set to rally at the annual March for Life on Jan. 23 in Washington, D.C. Leading voices in the movement have been calling for the complete defunding of Planned Parenthood and renewed safety restrictions on the abortion pill mifepristone. Though the administration ordered a review of the pill months ago, the review has not been completed. In fact, the administration recently approved a generic form of the abortion drug mifepristone.

A Louisiana Victory for Life - the end of Planned Parenthood

 

Planned Parenthood to close in Louisiana after more than 40 years. See details.

• BY BLAKE PATERSON | Staff writer

Planned Parenthood is ceasing operations in Louisiana and shutting down its reproductive health clinics in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, part of a wave of closures of the organization's clinics across the U.S. due to funding issues and moves by the Trump administration to cut off access to federal money.

The nonprofit, which has operated in Louisiana for more than 40 years, said in a prepared statement that it informed its staff on Friday of the closures that will take effect Sept. 30. 

Planned Parenthood's Louisiana clinics provide birth control, tests for sexually transmitted diseases, cancer screenings and other health care services. Over the past year, the organization provided care to more than 10,600 patients. They have never been licensed to provide abortions in the state. 

"This is not a decision we wanted to make," said Melaney Linton, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, adding that "political warfare" on the nonprofit by its opponents forced the closures.

The closures come as the organization's national affiliate, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, wages a legal battle against efforts by the Trump administration to end Medicaid payments to its clinics. More than half of Planned Parenthood patients rely on Medicaid, the federal health care program that serves millions of low-income and disabled Americans. A federal judge has temporarily blocked the administration's efforts.

Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast announced last month that it would also shutter two of its six clinics in Houston and hand over the remaining four clinics to Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas. 

Planned Parenthood began serving Louisiana in 1984, when the organization's New Orleans affiliate opened a clinic on Magazine Street. 

In 2016, the organization moved into a 7,000-square-foot clinic on South Claiborne Avenue, following a drawn-out battle with the Archdiocese of New Orleans, which opposed the project. 

The facility was built to provide abortions but the state Department of Health refused to approve the licenses needed to do so. That led to a yearslong legal battle, which continued up until the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and Louisiana enacted a near-total ban on the procedures. 

Unable to provide abortions, Planned Parenthood continued to provide other services while helping Louisianans access out-of-state abortion care, covering costs including airfare, lodging and child care. 

The legal battle over funding for Planned Parenthood centers around a provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed by Trump in July which instructed the federal government to end Medicaid payments for one year to abortion providers that received more than $800,000 from Medicaid in 2023. 

Although Planned Parenthood is not specifically named in the statute, which went into effect July 4, the organization’s leaders say it was meant to affect their nearly 600 centers in 48 states.

Federal law already bars taxpayer money from covering most abortions, but some conservatives argue abortion providers use Medicaid money for other health services to subsidize abortion.

Lawyers for the government argued in court documents that the bill “stops federal subsidies for Big Abortion.”

“All three democratically elected components of the Federal Government collaborated to enact that provision consistent with their electoral mandates from the American people as to how they want their hard-earned taxpayer dollars spent,” the government wrote in court filings. 

In her statement, Linton blamed the political push against the nonprofit for the closure of the clinics in New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

"Anti-reproductive health lawmakers obsessed with power and control have spent decades fighting the concept that people deserve to control their own bodies," Linton said. "These extremists have done everything they can to ‘defund’ Planned Parenthood, dismantle public health infrastructure, and block patients from the care they rely on. This cruelty and failed leadership are the reasons we are here today."

It's unclear what will happen to Planned Parenthood's South Claiborne property, which was funded by millions of dollars in donations. 

In July, a group of longtime donors sent a letter to Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast arguing that efforts to sell the building would interfere with the conditions of their donations and that legal action could follow. 

Planned Parenthood, which also has a clinic on Government Street in Baton Rouge, will continue to keep its doors open in Louisiana until the end of September.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

the acquittal of Mark Houck marks another milestone Pro-Life victory

 

Pro-life advocates and lawmakers react to news of Mark Houck’s acquittal

By Tyler Arnold, Jonah McKeown

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jan 30, 2023 / 16:09 pm

Pro-life lawmakers and activists are celebrating after a jury acquitted pro-life activist Mark Houck Monday on federal charges stemming from an altercation with a volunteer escort outside a Planned Parenthood facility in Philadelphia. 

Although Houck, a Catholic father of seven, acknowledged he shoved the volunteer twice, he said he only did so because the person was harassing his 12-year-old son. Local law enforcement refused to file charges against him, but the Department of Justice (DOJ) dispatched a team of FBI agents to arrest him at gunpoint in front of his family.

He could have served up to 11 years in prison if he had been found guilty on two counts of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, better known as the FACE Act. 

Several lawmakers praised the legal victory but chastised the DOJ for filing charges in the first place. 

Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Arizona, tweeted that the news “marks a win” for the pro-life community. He also alleged that the charges were brought to intimidate pro-life advocates.

“[President Joe] Biden’s DOJ raided Mark’s home — in front of his children — on sham charges. They treated Mark like a domestic terrorist because of his faith. This type of intimidation has no place in America.”

Rep. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, echoed some of those concerns. 

“Mark Houck never should have been prosecuted, let alone treated like a terrorist in an early-morning FBI raid with a SWAT team,” Cotton tweeted. “[Attorney General] Merrick Garland should be ashamed for using [the] DOJ as a political weapon to target pro-life activists.”

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, also congratulated Houck on his legal victory and warned that this case demonstrates how politicized the DOJ has become. 

“Some folks might mistakenly interpret this as an embarrassing loss for the politicized DOJ, but that would be ignoring their modus operandi, which is to punish people by putting them and their families through this process,” Massie tweeted. “In any case, congrats to Mr. Houck for prevailing.”

Many pro-life activists also expressed excitement about the win along with concerns about the power of the DOJ. 

The pro-life group 40 Days for Life, which organizes peaceful protests outside abortion clinics, hailed the verdict as a “major win.” Shawn Carney, the founder of 40 Days for Life, called the case a “well-deserved embarrassment for the FBI and DOJ and an abuse of power by the Biden administration.”

“Being pro-life is not illegal,” Carney noted. 

Lila Rose, the founder and president of the pro-life group Live Action, also reacted to the verdict. 

“Pro-life father and sidewalk advocate Mark Houck has been found NOT GUILTY of violating the FACE Act,” Rose tweeted. “Last [fall] he was raided at gunpoint by the Biden FBI in front of his 7 children & faced up to 11 years in prison.”

Ryan Bomberger, a pro-life activist and speaker, called it “great news” that Biden’s Justice Department “fails to carry out its injustice.”

“Peaceful pro-life father, Mark Houck, is found NOT GUILTY of violating ridiculous #FACE Act,” Bomberger tweeted.

Why would a Catholic University do this?

 

A Catholic university is hosting a fundraiser for Planned Parenthood. Yes, you read that right

David Mills November 3, 2021

Loyola Marymount University. Wikimedia Commons

Even today, the news makes you say, “Wait, what?!” One of Loyola Marymount University’s student groups will be hosting a fundraiser for Planned Parenthood on Friday, Nov. 5 with the university’s official approval — not sponsorship, but approval, since the group — LMU Women in Politics — will be holding it in one of the university’s dining rooms. The university isn’t approving an academic debate, the group RenewLMU argues, but giving “an in-kind donation to the nation’s largest abortion provider.” RenewLMU describes itself as “an alliance to strengthen LMU’s Catholic identity.”

Loyola Marymount is a Jesuit university in Los Angeles that teaches almost 10,000 students. In an open letter to the university’s president, Dr. Timothy Law Snyder, the group pointed to Planned Parenthood’s recent history, including the gruesome sale of fetal body parts, and to Pope Francis’ thorough rejection of abortion. Heading off the usual Catholic excuse for supporting Planned Parenthood, the letter hopes Snyder will “see through rationalizations that ‘Planned Parenthood does more than just abortions.’ The mafia also produces olive oil.”

Written by a graduate with three degrees from the university, the letter suggests the sponsors pick a better group to support. Samantha Stephenson argues for “one that more effectively supports women’s dignity and whose primary purposes are not at odds with the Catholic Church” and “affirms rather than undermines the dignity of women.”

Stephenson, who hosts the bioethics podcast “Brave New Us,” is writing a book for OSV titled “Reclaiming Motherhood: Faith and Bioethics in a Culture of Confusion” that is scheduled to be published in the fall of 2022. Studying at LMU, she said in an interview with LiveAction.org, “I grew deeply in my understanding of social justice, in my awareness of issues surrounding homelessness and immigration, and I consider these to fall under the umbrella of pro-life: of affirming the dignity of each and every human being, no matter the situation.”

Why would a Catholic university do this? It either accepts legal abortion as a tolerable practice, if not a good, or it finds itself in a tricky situation in which someone will object to whatever it does. I’m guessing the second.

I suspect that, as often happens in large institutions, one group decided to do something those in charge may or may not agree with, and the intermediate authorities approved it. When someone notices and protests to the people at the top, they see that the internal costs of stopping it will be high. The safest thing is just to let it go and not respond to the protesters. The controversy will die out and it won’t hurt the institution’s finances or reputation. If it alienates anyone, they’re probably alienated already. The harm it will do to the institution’s identity will be invisible.

In response to my query, the university provided a two-paragraph response. (They did not put it on their website or on social media.) “LMU remains committed to its Catholic, Jesuit and Marymount heritage, values and intellectual traditions, taking its fundamental inspiration from the founding orders that enliven its threefold mission,” it begins. It appeals to Ex Corde Ecclesiae’s belief in the unity of truth and Pope Francis’ belief that Catholic universities must “enter bravely into the current culture and open dialogue” to explain its commitment to “freedom of expression, inquiry and speech.”

The university encourages students to create student organizations, it continues in the second paragraph, that “enrich our educational environment and foster dialogue that often invites varying or opposing viewpoints.” The university explains that “the events, actions or positions of student organizations, including Women in Politics, are not endorsed by the university. The fundraiser being hosted by Women in Politics is not a university-sponsored event. However, the existence of these student organizations and their activities are living examples that LMU embraces its mission, commitments and the complexities of free and honest discourse.”

Yes to the first paragraph, but no to the second in relation to the question at hand. The university’s not just encouraging “free and honest discourse.” It’s allowing students to raise money to abort children. In the terms of Catholic moral teaching, the university is materially cooperating in funding abortions — at a distance, of course, through intermediaries. But giving permission to the student group to use the university’s facilities leads directly to the provision of abortions.

The university itself would make this distinction. As Stephenson says in the interview, “If this were a fundraiser for the KKK, for anti-immigration policies, for a group that intentionally marginalized the homeless, there would be no place for it on LMU’s campus. It simply wouldn’t be tolerated.”

Suppose some student group with the innocuous name The History and Heritage Society secured a dining hall for a banquet to be addressed by a white “identitarian.” His racism is no more opposed to Catholic social teaching than Planned Parenthood’s abortion of children. I will give you any odds that the university would revoke the permission right away, as it should. Their official statement would read much differently.

Catholic universities are human institutions, challenged by and sometimes formed by the world. They serve conflicting constituencies. Most of their conflicts can be handled through discussion and argument, but not all. It’s a very difficult thing to do, to run a university engaging the world in the way Francis describes without becoming worldly or retreating into a kind of Catholic fortress. The second keeps the university safe, but at the cost of giving its student a incomplete education.

So I’m not unsympathetic to Loyola Marymount’s problem here. But still, the university shouldn’t aid students in raising money for Planned Parenthood. That’s not encouraging dialogue, it’s encouraging abortion.

Another major setback to the evil Planned Parenthood; they need to be shut down forever

Planned Parenthood Withdraws From Title X Program Over Trump Abortion Rule

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August 19, 20192:55 PM ET

Heard on All Things Considered

Sarah McCammon

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Abortion protesters attempt to hand out literature as they stand in the driveway of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Indianapolis on Aug. 16.

Michael Conroy/AP

Planned Parenthood is leaving the federal Title X family planning program rather than comply with new Trump administration rules regarding abortion counseling.

The new rules, issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services earlier this year, prohibit Title X grantees from providing or referring patients for abortion, except in cases of rape, incest or medical emergency.

"The Trump administration has forced Planned Parenthood grantees out of Title X," said Alexis McGill Johnson, Planned Parenthood's acting president, in a conference call Monday. "The impact of the Trump administration's gag rule will reverberate across the country."

Health Care

Planned Parenthood May Reject Federal Funds Over Changes To Title X

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Officials say that means patients are likely to see longer wait times or increased costs for reproductive health services.

Planned Parenthood and other medical groups say the rule is unethical and interferes with the doctor-patient relationship. Abortion-rights opponents, meanwhile, have long argued for a complete separation between federal dollars and any organization involved in providing or facilitating abortions.

The announcement follows a letter submitted by Planned Parenthood last week to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. An attorney for Planned Parenthood said the organization had hoped to remain in the program but stop using Title X funds while the matter is being litigated. But, the letter says, recent guidance from HHS informed grantees that they would have to leave the program if they could not show "good-faith efforts" to comply. The letter expresses "deep regret" but says Planned Parenthood clinics "now have no option but to withdraw from the Title X program."

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In a statement to NPR Monday, HHS officials said, "Every grantee had the choice to accept the grant and comply with the program's regulations or not accept the grant if they did not want to comply. Some grantees are now blaming the government for their own actions – having chosen to accept the grant while failing to comply with the regulations that accompany it – and they are abandoning their obligations to serve their patients under the program."

Planned Parenthood's withdrawal from the $286 million federal program represents a significant shift in the way the family planning program operates. The organization has been involved in the program since its inception, and officials say it serves about 40% of the nation's 4 million Title X recipients, who receive services such as contraception and STD screenings.

Planned Parenthood officials declined to say how much money flows to the organization's clinics nationwide through Title X.

Doreen Denny, senior director of government relations for Concerned Women for America, which opposes abortion rights, called the news "a day of reckoning and decision" for Planned Parenthood.

"I think that Planned Parenthood certainly knew that they had a choice to make when they first applied for grants this round. They knew that these rules could take effect," Denny said. "So this isn't a surprise to them."

Abortion-rights opponents have called on political leaders to defund Planned Parenthood and have praised President Trump for his administration's efforts to deliver on his campaign promise to do just that.

National

Planned Parenthood To Withdraw From Title X, Unless Court Intervenes

The impact of the rule change is not limited to Planned Parenthood. Maine's sole Title X grantee, Maine Family Planning, is also withdrawing. In a letter to HHS, CEO George Hill said his group is leaving the program "more in sorrow than in anger."

Emily Nestler is an attorney with the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Maine Family Planning in its own legal challenge to the Trump administration rules. She said the move could force as many as 15 clinics to close in the largely rural state.

"Today is the tipping point, I think, and you're going to really see the unwinding of a program that has provided extraordinary care and been a huge success for decades," Nestler said in an interview with NPR.

Anti-abortion advocates say they hope the changes to the Title X program will open up funding for other groups, including religiously based organizations and crisis pregnancy centers that counsel women against abortions. Some of those groups do not provide a full range of contraceptive services.