Trump Makes Moves Toward Defunding Planned Parenthood

The Trump administration is planning to freeze millions in federal family planning grants, a move that could significantly hinder operations at organizations including Planned Parenthood, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

The Health and Human Services Department is looking to pause funds distributed under Title X, a federal program dedicated to providing family-planning services for free or discounted prices to about 4 million low-income Americans every year. Planned Parenthood is historically one of the largest Title X providers, with more than 300 of their 600 health centers participating in the federal program.

The Journal reported that HHS is pausing $120 million in Title X grants for certain organizations, including Planned Parenthood, while the department investigates whether the federal dollars have been used for DEI efforts — a move that’s part of a broader campaign to gut all federal initiatives for diversity, equity and inclusion.

HHS confirmed to the outlet that the department is planning an immediate freeze of $27.5 million in Title X grants. The department did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.

“This is blackmail. President Trump and Elon Musk are holding Planned Parenthood patients hostage by slashing funds from birth control providers who receive Title X grants,” Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, told HuffPost in an emailed statement.

None of Planned Parenthood’s affiliates have received a notice of any funding cuts as of Wednesday afternoon, a spokesperson for the organization told HuffPost. Around a dozen Planned Parenthood clinics received nearly $21 million in Title X family planning grants in 2024.

“The Trump-Vance-Musk administration wants to shut down Planned Parenthood health centers by any means necessary, and they’ll end people’s access to birth control, cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, and more to do it,” McGill Johnson said. “This is shameful yet unsurprising — and we won’t let it happen without a fight.”

Republicans have been trying to defund Planned Parenthood for decades, and the party has found renewed energy since Roe v. Wade fell and Trump returned to the White House. The anti-abortion administration has made it clear that one of their top priorities is to slash federal funding for Planned Parenthood. Since Roe fell, Planned Parenthood clinics have struggled financially, but freezing family planning grants could make a tough situation worse since half of Planned Parenthood clinics are funded in part by Title X.

“Organizations like Planned Parenthood are already really strapped because they are trying to provide so many health care services to Americans,” Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), co-chair of the Reproductive Freedom Caucus, told HuffPost on Wednesday morning. “The demand for family planning has skyrocketed, so if you take away $120 billion or more, then that is going to directly impact Americans’ ability to get birth control.”

Despite GOP rhetoric, Title X funding does not go toward abortions because federal funding for abortion care is illegal under the Hyde Amendment. However, that money does cover other critical health care such as birth control, prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases and breast cancer screenings.

Title X, created in 1970 under President Richard Nixon, is arguably more critical than ever before because the repeal of federal abortion protections has shuttered many rural reproductive health care clinics and forced more people to stay pregnant.

“It’s clear Trump and Elon [Musk] couldn’t care less how many people suffer, whose cancer goes undetected, or if women can no longer afford birth control as a result of their deranged mission to attack anything they deem DEI,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said in a statement.

“Fundamentally, we are talking about the Trump administration cutting off very basic and lifesaving health care,” she said. “Title X has long had bipartisan support and I hope every one of my colleagues who support basic, cost-saving family planning services will speak out against this illegal hijacking of lifesaving funding women across America are counting on for health care.”

On Wednesday, one day after The Wall Street Journal published its report, over 150 national anti-choice organizations sent a letter to members of Congress calling to “defund big abortion.” The letter, riddled with misinformation, focuses solely on defunding Planned Parenthood because it provides abortion care.

“I’ve been the co-chair of the Reproductive Freedom Caucus for many years, and people didn’t believe me when I said they [far-right Republicans] are opposed to abortion, but they are also opposed to birth control,” DeGette told HuffPost. “It is such an extreme position, but it is the position that the far right holds.”

“The sooner we grapple with that, the sooner Americans are going to be able to understand what’s really going on here.”