CNA Staff, May 16, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).
Earlier this week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee unveiled its portion of the reconciliation bill, which included language to defund Planned Parenthood and abortion vendors for the next 10 years in the base text of the House bill.
Leading pro-life voices say the proposed congressional reconciliation bill could be a “historic opportunity” to stop federal funding from going to the abortion giant.
“Through a process called budget reconciliation, a new budget is being crafted that will soon be voted on by both chambers of Congress and sent to the White House for approval,” Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins said this week in a livestream that gathered together leading pro-life advocates.
“Our goal is to see Planned Parenthood and big abortion defunded of our taxpayer dollars once and for all through this process,” Hawkins said.
What is budget reconciliation?
Reconciliation is an expedited process for passing laws related to spending, budget, or taxes.
What makes the reconciliation process unique is that for certain budget-related bills, it allows for a simple majority vote in the Senate as opposed to the usual supermajority requirement. Getting a supermajority of 60 votes in the Senate is a challenge, but in budget reconciliation, bills can pass with a simple majority of 51 votes.
Reconciliation enables Congress to efficiently make fiscal policy changes. The process begins with the House and Senate budget committees creating budget resolutions and working together to pass an identical budget resolution.
After negotiating and voting on the reconciliation bills, the finalized reconciliation bill is brought to the president for a signature.
Why pro-lifers have high hopes
David Bereit, founder of 40 Days for Life and head of the Life Leadership Conference, called this opportunity “the best shot we’ve ever had.”
“With a Republican trifecta in Washington, Congress can finally use the budget reconciliation process to stop the forced taxpayer funding of the Big Abortion industry,” read an SBA statement shared with CNA.
Kristi Hamrick, vice president at Students for Life Action, noted that the language of disqualifying abortion vendors is in the “base text” of the bill. “An amendment is easy to throw away,” Hamrick told CNA. “But we’re written into the bill itself, and we’re written in for 10 years.”
“A major hurdle was just passed,” Hamrick said.
But the Republican majority in the House and Senate is slim — and not all right-leaning legislators consistently vote pro-life.
According to Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser, moderate Republicans could be key to passing the bill.
Without enough votes, legislators may have to comprise on the proposed 10-year pause on Planned Parenthood funding.
Hawkins and other pro-life voices are encouraging citizens to reach out to their members of Congress to encourage them to vote pro-life.
Hawkins has high hopes for the reconciliation bill. “We know we can get out there and get this job done,” she said.
Why defund Planned Parenthood?
While the Hyde Amendment blocks federal funding of abortion in programs like Medicaid, the abortion industry is still funded by the federal government via subsidies.
According to its most recent annual report, Planned Parenthood received $800 million in U.S. taxpayer funding, with taxpayer dollars making up nearly 40% of their funding.
“Imagine if you or I had someone covering 40% of our bills,” Hamrick said. “That’s a lot of money, and that gives you a lot of freedom and flexibility.”
The same annual report revealed Planned Parenthood caused over 400,000 abortions.
“Forcing Americans to fund the abortion industry is a gross abuse of our hard-earned tax dollars and it’s unconscionable how long it has gone on,” Dannenfelser said.
“Health care should promote health,” Hamrick added. “If your health care kills people on purpose, you’re doing it wrong.”
More and better alternatives
Hamrick noted that defunding Planned Parenthood “doesn’t cut health care dollars away from poor women.”
Pro-life advocates like Dannenfelser also maintain that “better alternatives to businesses like Planned Parenthood exist for women.”
A recent report from the Charlotte Lozier Institute — the research and policy arm of SBA — found that in the U.S., community health centers for women outnumber Planned Parenthood locations 15 to 1.
Dannenfelser noted that the community health centers give “high quality care.”
“These centers are accessible and provide much more comprehensive care without performing abortions,” Dannenfelser said. “And because Medicaid dollars follow patients, they can continue to use Medicaid.”
“We want them to go to health care providers that care for them as a full person,” Hamrick added.
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