(LifeSiteNews) – A coalition of pro-life organizations led by Lila Rose set as its next mission the passage of a permanent nationwide defunding of Planned Parenthood before the one-year-ban in the current law expires that will also coincide with the 250th anniversary of the United States of America.
This past July, President Donald Trump signed into law his so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (BBB), a wide-ranging tax and spending package that contains a one-year ban on federal tax dollars going through Medicaid to any entity that provides abortions for reasons other than rape, incest, or supposed threats to the mother’s life, forcing the closure of numerous abortion centers and the suspension of abortion operations in many that remain. But the measure’s temporary status remains cause for concern, especially with future control of Congress in question.
“Next year, our nation will mark its 250th anniversary. A celebration of human dignity and the God-given rights proclaimed in our founding,” Live Action president Lila Rose told the Daily Signal. “But we cannot celebrate freedom while subsidizing the killing of American children.”
“As we prepare to honor our country, we must return to the truth declared at our beginning that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with the right to life,” she continued. “We cannot meaningfully celebrate that principle while simultaneously funding the destruction of our most vulnerable. It is time for Planned Parenthood to be permanently defunded and completely shut down,” specifically with a “permanent taxpayer defund of all organizations that commit abortion, not another temporary restriction that can be undone from one year to the next.”
Republicans have already proposed standalone 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.
But permanent defunding faces significant hurdles; it would have to be either deemed attachable to a fiscal package that can pass the Senate by simple-majority vote or done a standalone bill that would need 60 Senate votes. The group did not yet talk strategy to achieve the goal, but to start is asking pro-lifers to call their representatives and make their wishes known.
Joining Live Action in the effort are Students for Life, CatholicVote, National Right to Life, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Family Research Council, the Heritage Foundation, March for Life, Advancing American Freedom, and more.
Without Roe v. Wade to ensure abortion’s legality, the abortion industry relies heavily on taxpayer funding to stay in operation. 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% of its total revenue during that period. At the same time, the abortion chain committed 392,715 abortions – yet its legitimate health services, such as pap tests and cancer screenings, continued to decline as percentages of its overall business.
Within weeks of returning to office, Trump began enforcing the Hyde Amendment against direct funding of most elective abortions, reinstated the Mexico City Policy that 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 Trump 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.
“We are a nation founded on the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness — not abortion on demand, not federally funded destruction of children,” Live Action says. “On July 4th, 1776, our founders declared independence from tyranny. On July 4th, 2026, let’s declare independence from Planned Parenthood.”
