House GOP would defund Planned Parenthood, imperiling health care for 25,000 Virginians
A provision in the proposed budget reconciliation bill would bar Medicaid funding from being used to pay for health care at providers who also offer legal abortion care.
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced budget legislation on May 11 that would slash funding for the Medicaid program and defund Planned Parenthood. The proposal could imperil health care access for tens of thousands of Virginians.
The legislation, authored by House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY), is part of a budget package being pushed by President Donald Trump to cut spending on government safety net programs and make expiring provisions of Trump’s 2017 tax law permanent.
According to a committee staff memo, Section 44126 of the budget reconciliation proposal “prohibits Medicaid funds to be paid to providers that are nonprofit organizations, that are essential community providers that are primarily engaged in family planning services or reproductive services, provide for abortions other than for Hyde Amendment exceptions, and which received $1,000,000 or more (to either the provider or the provider’s affiliates) in payments from Medicaid payments in 2024.”
This would effectively defund Planned Parenthood health centers by blocking them from access to Medicaid funds for care not related to abortion, a longtime priority for opponents of reproductive rights.
“We are already facing a nationwide health care crisis in the wake of the overturning of Roe, worsened by the Trump administration shutting off millions of dollars for family planning and basic care in the Title X program,” Rachana Desai Martin, chief U.S. program officer at the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a press release. “Now, proposals to slash Medicaid and defund providers like Planned Parenthood are threatening to further dismantle a safety net that millions of people, especially low-income people and families, rely upon. It is unacceptable that politicians would choose to deepen this attack on basic health care services like contraception, prenatal care, and cancer screenings for patients.”
Planned Parenthood clinics across the country offer an array of health care services, including birth control, wellness exams, testing and treatment for sexually transmited infections, and cancer screenings.
Named for the late Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL), who first authored it in 1976, the Hyde Amendment is a provision that has been included in most federal spending bills since that time prohibiting almost all federal abortion funding for Medicaid. This proposal would go a step further, prohibiting federal funding for coverage of other types of care if it is provided at Planned Parenthood clinics.
In a May 12 memo, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia executive director Jamie Lockhart noted that 25,000 Virginians used Planned Parenthood for health care in 2024.
“This isn’t about Planned Parenthood,” Lockhart wrote. “It’s about whether tens of thousands of Virginians can keep getting the care they count on. No politician should decide who gets health care and who doesn’t. These are personal, private decisions between patients and their providers. Planned Parenthood isn’t just a provider — it’s a pillar of the health care system in Virginia. Without it, tens of thousands of Virginians — especially those with low-incomes, women and rural families — face the loss of cancer screenings, STI care, contraception, and more. When people delay or are denied care, entire communities suffer. Defunding Planned Parenthood doesn’t save money — it costs Virginia more and leaves people without care. ”
The Virginia League for Planned Parenthood operates clinics in Hampton, Richmond, Virginia Beach and also offers virtual health care.
Many Virginians in northern Virginia also receive care at Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington’s clinics in and around Washington, D.C.
In a May 13 news release, the Guttmacher Institute warned, “If Planned Parenthood health centers were excluded from federal programs such as Medicaid, other types of health centers would need to dramatically increase their contraceptive client caseloads to serve the patients currently obtaining contraceptive services at Planned Parenthood.”
