WASHINGTON, DC — Major pro-life groups gathered in the nation’s capital Thursday in an effort to halt the “big abortion” industry and to call on Congress to defund Planned Parenthood in its upcoming reconciliation bill.
Amid a sea of people donning blue “Defund Big Abortion” shirts, activist groups, including Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Students for Life Action and And Then There Were None, led citizen lobbyists through the Canon House of Representatives building before gathering for a press conference in front of the Capitol reflecting pool. Planned Parenthood — the largest abortion provider in the country — on average receives more than $500 million in federal funds annually, according to a U.S. Government Accountability study, and the pro-life groups contend that this funding should be discontinued.
The groups’ action is the latest in a series of both political and activist moves to stifle the abortion industry. President Donald Trump announced a funding freeze on family planning grants, including to Planned Parenthood, on Tuesday, in an attempt to ensure all grants are in compliance with his executive orders.
Over 150 activist groups also sent a letter to members of Congress Wednesday morning asking them to “seize the moment” and halt American tax dollars from funding the abortion industry.
“There’s a movement here,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “[Gathering at Capitol Hill] is part of an overall effort to successfully unify the movement. This is a top priority right now for the movement to defund Planned Parenthood.”
“Reconciliation bills in 2015 and 2017 included a provision to stop funneling American tax dollars to Big Abortion. This year, Congress can finally end funding for an industry that endangers women, kills unborn children and spends millions lobbying for abortion on demand with no limits,” the activist groups wrote in the letter to Congress. “President Trump has already rolled back funding for abortion groups overseas, but Congressional action is necessary to stop the biggest source of taxpayer cash for the domestic abortion industry – Medicaid.”
In 2022 and 2023, Planned Parenthood raked in roughly $2 million per day in grants, contracts and Medicaid reimbursements — all of which are paid into by taxpayers, according to the Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI). The funding accounted for about 34% of the company’s overall revenue for the 2022-2023 fiscal year. If Congress, through budget reconciliation, cut off funding to Planned Parenthood, the organization would likely lose the roughly $500 million in federal funding annually from departments like Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of International Development, Medicare, and Medicaid.
Abortions also accounted for 97.1% of Planned Parenthood’s services, while prenatal services, miscarriage care and adoption referrals made up just 1.6% in 2021 and 2022, according to the CLI.
Students for Life Action president Kristan Hawkins spoke at the press conference, saying Democrats lost the 2024 election “epically” after running on “the most radical abortion agenda in American history.”
“This brings us to our historic moment, where the pro-life movement stands unified behind a single message: Defund the entire abortion industry and defund their long-time standard bearer – Planned Parenthood – once and for all,” Hawkins said. “Like many politically protected businesses, corruption and reports of botched care for women are so widespread and egregious that even The New York Times has finally admitted there are serious, systemic problems.”
In February, the Times reported on multiple malpractice suits against Planned Parenthood, discovering clinics across the nation operate in unsafe conditions, leading to failed abortions, misplaced IUDs and inadequately trained staff. Contamination was also found in numerous clinics, with the newspaper describing an Omaha clinic with bathrooms backed up so severely, sewage seeped into their recovery room forcing employees to shove exam pads under the bathroom door to stop the leak.
Republican New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith, the House Pro-Life Caucus Chair, introduced the Let Pregnancy Centers Serve Act on Monday and mentioned the outlet’s report during his remarks at the press conference.
“Our nation should invest in real health care options for women and their families. Federally qualified health centers, for example, provide comprehensive services, including prenatal care, STI testing and treatment,” Smith said. “There are more than 2,700 pregnancy care centers throughout the United States — each and every one of them an oasis of love, compassion, empathy, respect, and quality care for both mothers and their precious children. According to a January 2025 poll, 83 percent of Americans support these centers, including 80 percent of the individuals who identify as ‘pro-choice.’”
The CLI released an analysis in 2022 that showed how outnumbered Planned Parenthood clinics have become. Genevieve Plaster, the institute’s Deputy Director, posted a statement about the analysis on the CLI website.
“Planned Parenthood might be favored by the media and political elite, but the reality is that women are offered more options and real choices through community-based care providers,” Plaster wrote. “Our research found that Planned Parenthood facilities are outnumbered 14 to 1 by comprehensive, federally-funded health clinics and pro-life pregnancy centers, which receive a majority of their funding from the community and are better equipped to provide pregnant women with holistic care when faced with difficult circumstances.”
Regarding what’s next for the activist groups, Dannenfelser said the safety of abortion pills was a large focus for the movement.
“Strong focus is on the pills being sent into states in the mail with no oversight and the bathroom is their abortion clinic. That is a trauma,” Dannenfelser told the DCNF. “It is so callous towards women. There are no rules surrounding the distribution of the abortion drug, no ultrasounds.”
The movement will also be returning to Washington D.C. in April for a Supreme Court hearing on a case involving South Carolina’s attempt to remove Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood.
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