The White House says no final decision has been made about the future of Planned Parenthood funding as pro-life advocacy groups celebrate a report claiming the Trump administration plans to freeze millions of dollars in federal family planning grants.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is in the process of reviewing over $27 million in Title X federal family-planning grants to ensure recipients comply with federal law and executive orders by President Donald Trump, an official confirmed with The Chrisitan Post this week.
"HHS is concerned about the compliance of several awardees impacting $27.5 million in continuation awards," the official said. "HHS expects all recipients of federal funding to comply with federal law."
White House Spokesman Kush Desai told CP that across the federal government, Trump "is safeguarding the American taxpayer's hard-earned dollars by ending the senseless taxpayer funding of DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] programs and initiatives, including grants to institutions in blatant violation of federal law."
"The Administration supports the proper stewardship and prioritization of taxpayer dollars and will work to ensure all federal grantees are compliant with federal laws prohibiting discrimination," Desai told CP.
The White House stressed that no final decisions on spending changes or grants for Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider, have been made.
The department is considering freezing the funds while it reviews whether or not "the money was used for diversity efforts," sources familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal Tuesday.
Affiliates of Planned Parenthood were among the groups that could be impacted by the freeze, the report noted.
Pro-life activist Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood worker, expressed confidence that the government "won't have to look hard to find evidence of DEI practices at Planned Parenthood."
"It's practically one of their creeds, so stripping that money away should be a small, easy win on behalf of taxpayers," Johnson told CP.
"I certainly applaud the Trump administration for removing any taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood, which we should never fund in any capacity," she added. "I hope this is only the beginning of stripping them from every single dime they get from the American public. Women deserve so much better than Planned Parenthood and abortion."
In a statement posted to X Tuesday, Alliance Defending Freedom President and CEO Kristen Waggoner described the potential freeze on Planned Parenthood funding as "common sense." She called the organization "a multi-billion dollar abortion business and the second-largest provider of 'gender-affirming care' in America."
"Planned Parenthood doesn't have the unqualified right to receive government funds to push its radical agenda," Waggoner contends.
While a freeze on Planned Parenthood funding would focus on DEI-related payments, the prospect of defunding the abortion provider has received renewed attention following Trump's victory in the 2024 presidential election.
In an op-ed published by The Wall Street Journal shortly after the election, the individuals tapped by Trump to lead the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency listed "nearly $300 million to progressive groups like Planned Parenthood" as funding it would review and possibly cut.
In a letter to members of the U.S. Congress Wednesday, 150 pro-life organizations led by Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America urged lawmakers to completely defund Planned Parenthood in an upcoming reconciliation bill.
Unlike most legislation, which requires 60 votes to pass the U.S. Senate, a reconciliation bill can clear the Senate with a simple majority of 51 votes. Republicans currently control both the House of Representatives and Senate, making the passage of such a bill more likely.
In addition to concerns about government waste and providing taxpayer funding to an organization that performs abortions and engages in political advocacy, the letter cited a New York Times report documenting unsanitary and unsafe conditions at Planned Parenthood clinics across the U.S. as another reason to defund the organization.
Planned Parenthood's latest annual report from 2022-2023 documented that it received $699.3 million in federal funding.
Planned Parenthood reacted to The Wall Street Journal report about the Trump administration's intention to freeze federal family planning grants by calling it "shameful but unsurprising."
"The Trump admin is trying to shut down Planned Parenthood health centers, harming millions of people across the country who get birth control and essential health care through Title X," the organization stated on Facebook.
