Life

Congress Must Extend Defund of Planned Parenthood

This Fourth of July will be a huge celebration of America’s 250th birthday. It will also be the day our nation’s largest abortion giant, Planned Parenthood, receives a multi-million-dollar gift – unless Congress intervenes.

Last year, Congress defunded Planned Parenthood – which killed 434,350 preborn children in one year according to its latest annual report – of around $850 million in federal taxpayer money. Since then, around 50 Planned Parenthood clinics have closed, in part because of financial troubles.

The defund provision (Section 71113) was included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which President Trump signed into law on July 4, 2025. The bill also cut taxes on working families, provided additional funding for border security and immigration enforcement, and beefed-up spending on national security.

While the Hyde amendment prohibits taxpayer dollars from directly going to pay for abortions, Planned Parenthood could receive federal monies, including government grants, contracts and Medicaid reimbursements, for other services.

All money is fungible, so these federal dollars indirectly supported the organization’s grisly abortion business by allowing it to pay salaries, sustain operating expenses and open new locations. That’s how Planned Parenthood grew into a $2.1 billion enterprise.

Originally, it wasn’t clear whether the defund provision would even go into effect after Planned Parenthood, and a coalition of 23 states, filed separate lawsuits arguing Section 71113 violated the U.S. Constitution.

Federal Judge Indira Talwani initially sided with the abortion giant, ruling Section 71113 violated the equal protection clause and was an unconstitutional bill of attainder, just three days after the president signed the bill.

However, Judge Talwani’s decision was quickly overturned by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which was notable, since the 1st Circuit is widely seen as one the most liberal appellate courts in the country. The 1st Circuit unanimously upheld Section 71113.

The defund provision lasts only one year, however, meaning it will expire in less than two months unless Congress acts to extend the provision.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act was enacted through the reconciliation process, which Congress can generally use once per year to enact tax- and spending-related priorities. The reconciliation process allows legislation to pass the U.S. Senate by simple majority vote, rather than the usually required 60-vote threshold.

The current Congress, however, can use the reconciliation process twice more before the end of this year. Pro-life advocates have been urging Congress to use the opportunity to defund Planned Parenthood again.

Congress recently advanced a “skinny” reconciliation bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security to end the agency’s shutdown. That leaves one reconciliation bill left which could be used to extend the defund provision.

According to House Pro-Life Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is “doing everything he can to make sure that happens.”

Speaker Johnson told the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America Gala on April 29, “We’ve been very creative in how we’ve used [the reconciliation process], and we’re intending to do that again.”

Rep. Smith said Planned Parenthood again receiving taxpayer dollars would sour the celebration of America’s 250th birthday on July 4.

“It would mar the event,” Smith told the Daily Signal.

Nearly 250 years ago, America’s Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence, proclaiming the self-evident truth that all men have unalienable rights to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Our elected representatives in Congress must ensure our nation lives up to its founding principles by barring taxpayer dollars from going to a massive enterprise that kills thousands of innocent Americans annually, depriving them of their right to life.

At Focus on the Family, we have been working to turn the cultural tide and save mothers and babies from abortion for years. Since beginning the Option Ultrasound Program in 2004, Focus has helped save over half a million lives. Just $60 will help save a life through Option Ultrasound. Will you partner with us to save lives from abortion?

If you are experiencing an unexpected pregnancy and want to learn more about your options, you can visit My Choice Network.

Related articles and resources:

My Choice Network

I’m Pregnant, Now What?

Dealing With Unplanned Pregnancy

Become an Option Ultrasound Life Advocate

New Insights on the Dangers of the Abortion Pill

Overcoming Abortion and Becoming a Force for Life

New Planned Parenthood Annual Report: More Abortions, Fewer Services

Planned Parenthood Drops Suit After Trying to Force Taxpayers to Fund Abortions

Conservative Lawmakers Propose Budget Bill Defunding Big Abortion – Again

Appeals Court Upholds Defunding of Big Abortion Businesses

Photo from Getty Images.

Supreme Court Temporarily Restores Access to Mail-Order Abortion Pills

The U.S. Supreme Court temporarily restored access to mail-order abortion pills Monday morning, allowing women to continue obtaining mifepristone through telehealth appointments, the mail and pharmacies.

The Court administratively stayed a lower court decision overturning the Biden administration’s efforts to make the abortion drug more widely available following the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

In 2023, the Biden administration modified mifepristone’s Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS), a regulation placed on the drug by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to lessen the risks to women who take it. An estimated 11% of women who abort their child with mifepristone suffer life-threatening complications.

The FDA removed the in-person dispensing requirement, making mifepristone accessible through telehealth appointments, obtainable by mail nationwide, and available at retail pharmacies. The requirement had been in place for over two decades.

In 2025, Louisiana brought a lawsuit challenging the 2023 REMS, arguing the FDA’s justifications for removing the in-person dispensing requirement were based on flawed or nonexistent data.

Additionally, Louisiana documented how the new regulation resulted in numerous illegal abortions in the state. In effect, the 2023 REMS allow women to bypass a pro-life state’s restriction on abortion by ordering mifepristone online, and having it delivered through the mail.

Louisiana argued the 2023 REMS also made the abortion pill ripe for abuse. Look no further than the case of Rosalie Markezich, a Louisiana woman who was forced by her then boyfriend to take abortion drugs he ordered online from a doctor in California. Markezich joined Louisiana’s lawsuit against the FDA.

On May 1, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit sided with Louisiana and stayed the 2023 REMS.

Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan, joined by Judges Leslie Southwick and Kurt Engelhardt, noted that the FDA “conceded it had failed to adequately study whether remotely prescribing mifepristone is safe.”

Louisiana made “a strong showing that the 2023 REMS was not ‘reasonable’ or ‘reasonably explained,’” the court said.

The Fifth Circuit added,

Every abortion facilitated by FDA’s action cancels Louisiana’s ban on medical abortions and undermines its policy that “every unborn child is human being from the moment of conception and is, therefore, a legal person.”

Now, the U.S. Supreme Court has put the Fifth Circuit’s decision on hold – for now. The seven-day administrative stay gives the Supreme Court more time to consider the case.

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which joined Louisiana in challenging the FDA’s regulation, issued a statement following the Court’s decision.

“This is NOT a reversal of Friday’s decision. Rather, it’s the run-of-the-mill pause that the Justices typically use to consider the issues raised in an emergency application,” ADF said.

“We respect the Court’s desire to have time to consider the issues and will continue our fight to uphold this victory that protects women and babies across the country from FDA’s unlawful and destructive mail-order abortion-drug scheme.”

The Supreme Court’s administrative stay expires on Monday, May 11. We’ll likely know more about where this case is headed by then. The Daily Citizen will keep you updated.

The case is Danco Laboratories v. Louisiana.

At Focus on the Family, we have been working to turn the cultural tide and save mothers and babies from abortion for years. Since beginning the Option Ultrasound Program in 2004, Focus has helped save over half a million lives. Just $60 will help save a life through Option Ultrasound. Will you partner with us to save lives from abortion?

If you are experiencing an unexpected pregnancy and want to learn more about your options, you can visit My Choice Network.

Related articles and resources:

My Choice Network

I’m Pregnant, Now What?

Dealing With Unplanned Pregnancy

Become an Option Ultrasound Life Advocate

New Insights on the Dangers of the Abortion Pill

Overcoming Abortion and Becoming a Force for Life

Biden Administration Endangered Women With Abortion Pill Change, Research Finds

Photo from Shutterstock.

What to Know About the Colorado March for Life This Friday

Calling all pro-life Coloradans! Focus on the Family is inviting you to join us at the Colorado March for Life this Friday in Denver!

For the third year in a row, the National March for Life is partnering with Pro-Life Colorado to host the Colorado March for Life.

The event will kick-off with a pre-rally concert at 10 a.m., followed by a rally at 11 a.m. and the march at noon.

The concert and rally will take place on the steps of the Colorado State Capitol Building. 

The march will immediately follow. Participants will march approximately one mile around the capitol complex.

This is a family-friendly event, so be sure to bring your kids to rally and march for life together as a family!

Attendees are encouraged to bring signs that communicate their pro-life values. For inspiration, you can get sign ideas here.

The purpose of the gathering is to peacefully advocate in favor of pro-life protections for women and babies in Colorado state law. This is an opportunity to communicate your pro-life values while our lawmakers are at work in the Capitol building. 

Speakers at the rally will include: 

• Chelsea Mynyk, Castle Rock Women’s Health

• Mackenna Greene, Pro-Life Advocate

• Friends of Club 21 Choir, National Anthem

• Sister Mary Grace, Sisters of Life

• Diane Ferraro, Save the Storks

• Lauren Castillo, Bella Health + Wellness

• Representative Brandi Bradley, Colorado General Assembly – District 39

• Julie Bailey, Pro-Life Colorado

• Hannah Callahan, March for Life

• The Most Reverend James Golka, Archbishop of Denver

• The Most Reverend Jorge Rodriguez, Archdiocese of Denver

• Rev. James Maxwell, The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod

• Anita Abeyta, Testimony Speaker

• Jaime Gallob, Pregnancy Center of Grand Junction

• Dr. Daniel Catarisano, Iglesia La RED

• Nicole & Taylor Hunt, Focus on the Family, Testimony, Pledge of Allegiance

Lutheran High School students will be carrying the March for Life banner and leading the march.

Many pro-life organizations will have tables at the event. 

Focus on the Family will have a table for the third year in a row, so please stop by and say hello!

This year, Students for Life will be hosting their very first Denver Pro-Life Summit. The Summit will be held at the Knights of Columbus Hall from 3 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on the same day of the march. It is designed to “equip all attendees with the skills and strategies needed to successfully lead their communities toward a culture of life.” 

We hope you will consider attending both events.

To get more information about parking, marching and advocating for life, visit Colorado March for Life.

We look forward to seeing you there!

New Planned Parenthood Annual Report: More Abortions, Fewer Services

Planned Parenthood killed 434,450 preborn babies in one year, according to its newly released annual report. It earned over $2.1 billion for its evil deeds.

The recently released report, “Care continues. Annual Report 2024-2025,” reveals our nation’s largest abortion mill continued to increase the number of preborn babies it kills – even as it performed fewer real healthcare services.

The report shows an increase of over 32,000 abortions from the previous year – a rise of 8%.

Robyn Chambers, vice president of Advocacy for Children at Focus on the Family, said in a statement to the Daily Citizen, “When Roe was overturned, one of my greatest fears was the demand for abortion pills (chemical abortion) would escalate and those that provide abortion would become more aggressive in their marketing efforts to target women with an old argument, but new lies.”

“Their tactics are misleading and dangerous,” she continued. “Women are being harmed and babies’ lives are being lost to a culture that no longer values life. That is why Focus on the Family’s pro-life work is more important than ever.”

Abortions and Other Services

According to the Charlotte Lozier Institute, Planned Parenthood’s service data lags behind the rest of the report’s information, meaning the 2024-2025 report contains data on abortions from 2023-2024.

The pro-life research institute details the abortion giant’s annual report, which shows:

  • Planned Parenthood performed a record 434,450 abortions in 2023-2024.
  • The number of patients it saw increased by 0.5% from the previous year.
  • In 2023-2024, 97% of the time women sought help for pregnancy-related care, they were sold an abortion.
  • For every adoption referral, Planned Parenthood performed 143 abortions.
  • Since 2014, Planned Parenthood’s total cancer screenings and prevention services have dropped by 43%, including declines of 55% for breast exams and 38% for pap tests.
  • Prenatal services are down 56%.
  • Contraceptive services are down 23%.

Financials

Planned Parenthood’s report shows the organization:

  • Earned $2.1 billion between government reimbursements and grants, non-government revenue, private contributions and other revenue.
  • Reported $2.5 billion in net assets.
  • Received $832 million from government reimbursements and grants.
  • Received $728 million in private contributions and bequests.
  • Reported a net loss of $29.3 million, the first time in recent years the abortion giant’s expenses exceeded its revenue.

It’s 2024 report had shown the organization earned a profit of $206 million in the preceding two years.

The new report includes financial data from before the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which President Trump signed into law on July 4, 2025, defunded the abortion giant of taxpayer money. The law prohibits Medicaid reimbursements from flowing to Planned Parenthood for a period of one year.

The report reveals the impact the law has had on the organization, blaming it for putting up to 200 Planned Parenthood clinics at risk of closure. Nearly 50 Planned Parenthood clinics closed last year.

The law’s financial effect upon Planned Parenthood should be made clearer in its next annual report, while it will take until 2028 for the defunding provision to show up in its services data.

The one-year defunding provision is set to sunset on July 4, 2026. Congress shouldn’t give Planned Parenthood an Independence Day gift by allowing the provision to expire. It should use an upcoming reconciliation bill to defund the abortion giant for at least one more year.

One could also be easily forgiven for hoping and praying the whole grisly enterprise will face divine retribution, be shuttered and never release another annual report detailing its dark deeds.

The organization violently ended nearly half a million lives in one year. That should provoke a sense of righteous anger and take one’s breath away. It should also harden pro-life supporters’ resolve to engage and get involved to help save lives.

Clearly, much remains to be done in the fight for life. Chambers highlighted Focus on the Family’s efforts to promote life:

Focus on the Family works with 2,800 pregnancy centers across the country to equip them with ultrasound machines, nurses training grants and abortion pill reversal training.
Our newest campaign is reaching college students with true medical information and connecting them with a life-affirming pregnancy center that can serve a young woman right in her moment of need. Our work is vital in this battle for life!

Focus on the Family has been working to turn the cultural tide and save mothers and babies from abortion for years. Since beginning the Option Ultrasound Program in 2004, Focus has helped save over half a million lives.

Just $60 will help save a life through Option Ultrasound. Will you partner with us to save lives from abortion?

Additionally, if you are experiencing an unexpected pregnancy and want to learn more about your options, you can visit My Choice Network here.

Related articles and resources:

My Choice Network

I’m Pregnant, Now What?

Dealing With Unplanned Pregnancy

Become an Option Ultrasound Life Advocate

Stepping Up to Defend Life

Expressing Pro-Life Views in Winsome Ways

Experiencing God’s Mercy After Leaving the Abortion Industry

Planned Parenthood Earns $2 Billion Killing Over 400,000 Babies, Annual Report Shows

Abortion Remains Highly Profitable Business for Planned Parenthood, New Annual Report Shows

Photo from Shutterstock.

Planned Parenthood Pays $500,000 Fine After EEOC Investigation for DEI Policies

Our nation’s largest abortion giant violated federal law by discriminating against white employees, an investigation by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) found.

The agency announced on Monday Planned Parenthood of Illinois will pay a $500,000 settlement for segregating employees by race, harassing white employees and providing white workers with fewer employment privileges. The investigation began after four Planned Parenthood employees spoke out against the abortion mill’s racist practices.

The abortion affiliate created mandatory “‘affinity caucuses’ that were segregated by race, in which employees of other races were not allowed to participate,” the EEOC said.

“Segregating employees by race violates the core promise of our nation’s civil rights laws,” said EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas in a statement. “Title VII guarantees equal treatment for every employee and prohibits race discrimination in America’s workplaces. Those protections equally apply to white workers.”

Chair Lucas added,

There is no DEI exception to Title VII’s requirements. Employers who deliberately separate workers or subject them to harassment because of their race, including white employees, violate federal law.
The Commission will continue to enforce these protections to ensure equal opportunity for all.

According to the EEOC’s allegations, a Planned Parenthood manager also made “racially harassing statements” and the organization “demanded all employees attend DEI-related training sessions which involved repeated harassing and derogatory statements targeting white employees,” including statements like “[white employees] are white and do not feel racism the same way non-white patients feel” and “white supremacy is exerted at every level of oppression.”

Additionally, the organization “denied white employees access to time off that it granted only to black employees.”

Announcing the news on X, Chair Lucas said, “Calling something DEI doesn’t inoculate the practice or program from liability under longstanding civil rights rules.”

“Four workers here bravely spoke up against segregation, harassment, and disparate treatment. Grateful to U.S. EEOC career staff for their work investigating and conciliating this matter to a strong resolution.”

As a result of the EEOC’s investigation, Planned Parenthood removed the manager responsible for the alleged misconduct.

But for the abortion giant, racism is nothing new. The organization was founded by racist Margaret Sanger, an advocate of eugenics, who opened the first Planned Parenthood clinic in Brooklyn, New York.

Planned Parenthood only recently acknowledged Sanger’s overt racism against black citizens.

Sanger infamously launched The Negro Project to eliminate black Americans through sterilization and birth control, the Daily Citizen has previously reported.

While the context of Sanger’s words is debated, she once described the project, saying, “We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.”

Abortion as it is practiced today fulfills Sanger’s dark dreams. As we’ve noted, “Although African Americans are about 14% of the U.S. population, 28% of all abortions are from black women, compared to 6.4% of white women.” In New York City, a preborn African American baby is more likely to be aborted than born.

The EEOC’s investigation of the abortion giant’s racist policies deserves praise, especially since one might call Planned Parenthood a “systemically racist” organization.

But the work of pro-life supporters continues until the organization closes its evil doors for good.

Related articles and resources:

Conversations on Racial Unity

An Unlikely Multi-Ethnic Friendship Sealed in Christ

Monique Duson: Responding to Critical Race Theory with Grace and Truth

A Fascinating Perspective on Racial Issues

EEOC Chair Warns Companies Against Discriminatory DEI Policies

Andrea Lucas Leads the EEOC: Restoring Agency With Truth and Common Sense

The Racist Origins of Planned Parenthood

Photo from Shutterstock.