The Senate version of President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill,” which narrowly passed Tuesday, includes a provision that would prohibit federal Medicaid funding for any healthcare services provided by clinics that also provide abortion services for one year.
The Senate parliamentarian Monday ruled that the language banning federal funding for Planned Parenthood for one year does not violate the chamber’s Byrd Rule, clearing the way for the provision to be included in the bill.
The Senate Republicans updated the provision late Friday night to change the timing of the “defunding” from 10 years to one year, The Hill reported.
Medicaid is prohibited from paying for almost all abortions, but the provision would cut government funding for other healthcare services that Planned Parenthood provides.
Planned Parenthood is not specifically mentioned in the Senate bill’s language, but the bill prohibits community providers that offer abortions from accepting Medicaid for the other family planning and reproductive healthcare services they provide.
Planned Parenthood provides a broad range of reproductive and preventive care services, including birth control information and services, sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment services, cancer screenings, and, where legal, abortion care. In 2024, Planned Parenthood served more than 2 million patients and provided 9.4 million services and aims to provide access to affordable healthcare services.
Planned Parenthood said the provision in the Senate bill is an effort to “defund” the organization and is a “backdoor abortion ban that could put health care for 1.1 million patients at risk,” the organization said in a statement.
“This bill is cruel, and that’s the point for Senate Republicans who just voted to ‘defund’ Planned Parenthood. They chose to sacrifice the health and lives of their constituents in service of their long-term goal to shut down Planned Parenthood and decimate abortion access nationwide,” Planned Parenthood Action Fund President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson said in a statement.
“This bill threatens to close nearly 200 Planned Parenthood health centers and will create devastating gaps in our health care infrastructure by putting the full range of reproductive care, like birth control, cancer screenings, and STI testing and treatments out of reach for many. We watched every single member take every single vote. Planned Parenthood Action Fund will never stop reminding the 19 million Planned Parenthood supporters who is to blame for taking away people’s power to control their reproductive lives and futures,” McGill Johnson said.
Planned Parenthood said losing Medicaid funding would put clinics at risk of closures, potentially eliminating one in four abortion providers nationwide. More than 90% of those closures would occur in states where abortion is protected and legal, the organization said.
In 12 states, approximately 75% of abortion-providing Planned Parenthood health centers could close. Many of these states provide necessary care to patients traveling from states where some or all abortion is banned.
With abortion bans in 19 states, states with access are already struggling to meet the needs of out-of-state patients seeking abortion care. Cuts to Medicaid funding would significantly decrease capacity, “causing a ripple effect of longer wait times, farther travel distances, and overall delays in getting timely care for everyone needing abortion care,” the organization said.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., offered an amendment to strike the provision from the bill, but that amendment failed.
“Republicans just got the green light to proceed with their destructive effort to defund Planned Parenthood health centers across the country—a crushing blow to the millions of women across America who rely on Planned Parenthood clinics for basic reproductive care,” Murray said in a statement.
America’s Physician Group also denounced the provision to strip Planned Parenthood of federal funds.
“The provision banning Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funding for non-abortion-related family planning and reproductive health care services will disenfranchise many low-income Americans from accessing an important source of their health care,” said Susan Dentzer, president and Chief Executive Officer of America’s Physician Groups in a statement.
“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,” Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., said in a joint statement. “Republicans are trampling the law to force their extremist ideology onto the American people.”
Planned Parenthood’s U.S. division received $792 million in funding through government health services reimbursements and grants in 2024, according to the organization’s latest annual report (PDF).
A Congressional Budget Office analysis of the provision targeting Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood included in the House version of the megabill estimated that it will cost taxpayers $52 million over the next 10 years.
The Senate bill’s passage follows a Supreme Court ruling last week that clears the way for states to deny funding to Planned Parenthood.
The SCOTUS ruling, in a 6-3 vote, says Planned Parenthood and one of its patients cannot sue South Carolina over its effort to deny Medicaid funding to the group. The court’s decision could have significant implications for low-income people’s ability to access a broad range of healthcare services through Planned Parenthood and other reproductive healthcare providers.
And the ruling could lead to more states removing Planned Parenthood from their Medicaid programs, a move already made by Texas, Arkansas and Missouri.
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