The ruling allows the measure to be included in the GOP’s budget bill and passed with a simple majority vote.
Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough approved the language for the reconciliation process, allowing Republicans to advance the measure with a simple majority and bypass a Democrat-led filibuster. The ruling is a significant victory for conservatives and pro-life groups who have long urged Congress to halt taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood.
The provision, which bars Medicaid funds from going to any provider that offers abortion services, does not mention Planned Parenthood by name. However, the organization is the largest and most affected recipient of such funding. Senate Republicans revised the proposal on June 27, shortening the defunding period from ten years to one year to meet reconciliation requirements under the Byrd Rule.
Senate Democrats voiced strong opposition. Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) introduced an amendment to remove the defunding language, warning it would cut off essential care for low-income women. Her amendment failed in a 49-51 vote.
“Republicans will stop at nothing in their crusade to take control of women’s bodies and deny them the right to make their own health care decisions,” Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) said in a joint statement.
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), who defended the provision during the vote-a-rama session, argued that if providers want Medicaid funds, they should not offer elective abortions. “There was a time when protecting American tax dollars from supporting the abortion industry was an uncontroversial, non-partisan effort,” she said.
Although the Hyde Amendment already prohibits direct federal funding for abortions, Republicans argue that any government funding of Planned Parenthood helps subsidize abortion by freeing up the organization’s other resources. Planned Parenthood has consistently maintained that it uses federal funds for other health services, not abortion.
According to its most recent annual report, the group performed 402,230 abortions in 2023–2024, an increase from the prior year. It also reported receiving $792.2 million in taxpayer funding during the same period—nearly $100 million more than the previous year.
Planned Parenthood has warned that losing Medicaid funding would jeopardize the operation of at least 200 of its health centers, 90% of which are located in states where abortion remains legal. The organization says over a million low-income patients could lose access to care.
The budget measure follows a recent Supreme Court decision that gave states more leeway to exclude Planned Parenthood from their Medicaid programs. In a June 26 ruling, the Court found that individual Medicaid recipients do not have the right to sue states over provider exclusions, effectively weakening Planned Parenthood’s legal defense against defunding efforts.
The provision is part of what Republicans are calling the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” a Trump-endorsed budget package that includes tax reforms, spending cuts, and other conservative priorities. If passed, it would mark the first time under President Trump’s renewed push that Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid funding is formally cut by Congress through reconciliation—similar to previous efforts in 2015 and 2017.
Conservatives see the inclusion of the provision as a decisive move in their ongoing effort to prevent taxpayer support for abortion providers. The bill is expected to advance on a party-line vote in the coming days.