Anti-abortion groups are intensifying their campaign against Republican leaders after a provision to block Medicaid payments to abortion providers like Planned Parenthood was excluded from the party’s reconciliation 3.0 framework. The omission is reigniting internal GOP tensions, with activists already unhappy over the Trump administration’s reluctance to use executive action on issues like curbing mail-order abortion pills.
The one-year ban on abortion providers billing Medicaid for non-abortion services, which was part of the GOP’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed by President Trump last year, expired on July 5. Since then, anti-abortion advocates have pressed for a similar restriction in the next reconciliation bill—a legislative tool that bypasses the Senate filibuster and allows Republicans to advance partisan priorities without Democratic support.
However, the party’s second reconciliation attempt was a slimmed-down package focused on immigration enforcement and border security. Now, the third reconciliation bill, a $95 billion framework released by House Republicans, prioritizes defense spending, farm aid, and grants to impose voting restrictions—but notably omits any offset for the new spending and leaves out the Medicaid funding restriction for abortion providers.
“Abortion defunding is the ideal offset, saving hundreds of millions in unethical spending year over year,” said Gavin Oxley, media relations manager at Americans United for Life. “Punting defunding from one iteration of reconciliation to the next is fiscally illogical and a waste of taxpayer dollars. Save America money and restore abortion defunding.”
Planned Parenthood Action countered that the earlier defunding provision would have actually increased federal spending by $52 million over a decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Federal law already prohibits direct Medicaid funding for abortion procedures, but clinics can bill for services like contraception, cancer screenings, and STI testing.
“Tens of thousands of patients have been denied access to services like cancer screenings and birth control and STI testing and treatment. These are things that just can’t be undone,” said Nora Walsh-DeVries, vice president of political and legislative affairs at Planned Parenthood Action Fund, in a previous statement.
Anti-abortion advocates argue that Planned Parenthood relies on Medicaid reimbursements for non-abortion services to sustain its abortion operations. A coalition of groups and lawmakers held a rally on Capitol Hill Thursday demanding the restoration of the funding ban.
“This Congress should have acted long ago. There is no excuse—none—for Planned Parenthood to be receiving taxpayer money to be carrying out the mutilation of our children, to be carrying out the murder of the innocent unborn,” Sen. Josh Howley (R-Mo.) said at the rally.
The day after the ban expired, Students for Life Action updated its congressional scorecard, giving every member an “F” for failing to extend it. “Reconciliation is one path forward, and we should take it. We call on the GOP to use their authority in bills, amendments, and their own advocacy to finish what they started,” said Savanna Deretich, the group’s government affairs coordinator.
House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), a key architect of the reconciliation 3.0 plan, acknowledged that the package is far more limited than he and many colleagues had envisioned. He said early discussions included the Medicaid ban, but the need to craft a narrow bill that could quickly pass Congress—especially to replenish munitions depleted during the Iran conflict—forced it off the table.
“There is definitely a group of members, more than just every other member, that would prioritize the abortion-related issues,” Arrington said. “We had the time, the luxury of time, in the Big Beautiful Bill to work through that and get at least a partial win for the pro-life movement, I was very happy about that.” He added, “The clock was our greatest threat to the broader opportunities.”
Activists are now looking beyond Congress to the administration. Deretich called on the Trump administration to complete an investigation into Planned Parenthood at the Small Business Administration and “tell Planned Parenthood ‘You’re Fired,’ without 60 votes in the U.S. Senate.” The agency is already probing whether affiliates misrepresented themselves for COVID-era relief funds.
