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On July 4, 2026, America will celebrate the 250th anniversary of her founding — but unless Congress votes to continue banning federal Medicaid dollars from abortion providers like Planned Parenthood, July 4 will also be the day that America’s most prolific killer of preborn children will see those taxpayer dollars once again pouring into its bank accounts.
Planned Parenthood deserves to be permanently defunded — and Live Action News’ series, ‘DEFUND 250,’ plans to remind the public of many reasons why.
Planned Parenthood’s marketing experts portray the corporation as the “victim” any time taxpayer funding is threatened, often misleading the public by suggesting that facility closures and financial deficits are due to defunding threats; in reality, the organization’s own business model prioritizing abortion is to blame.
Key Takeaways:
Planned Parenthood has repeatedly misled the public regarding the reasons for its facility closures, blaming governmental defunding when the closures were already internally planned.
Some affiliates were bleeding cash well before the defunding measure.
Even as Planned Parenthood closed brick-and-mortar facilities, its virtual and telehealth abortion business was being expanded.
The Details:
The Timeline
July 1, 2025: Planned Parenthood announced that “nearly 200″ of their facilities would be “at risk of closure” if Congress were to remove Medicaid funding from the abortion corporation.
July 4,2025: President Trump signed the Big Beautiful Bill (BBB) which, partially defunded businesses that commit elective abortions, including Planned Parenthood, from receiving federal Medicaid reimbursements for one year unless they stop committing elective induced abortions.
September 11, 2025 Planned Parenthood refused to end their abortion empire and took the fight to the courts. A ruling by the First Circuit Court of Appeals allowed Planned Parenthood to be defunded while the case proceeds. PP acknowledged that “Since the beginning of 2025 nearly 50 Planned Parenthood health centers have been forced to close following the loss of Title X funds and Medicaid reimbursements.”
March 2026: PP’s misinformation campaign alleged that because of the 2025 defund measure, 23 PP facilities have had to close.
But many of these closures were not due to the defunding; they were already slated to close due to lack of donors, lack of financial stability, decreasing patients and the implementation of a previously published business model from brick and mortar facilities to Virtual Health Centers (VHC).
In May of 2023, Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) made a “strategic decision” to restructure the organization by laying off staff at the national level and instead use those dollars to “build a powerful movement for abortion access at the local and state level.”
Further, in Planned Parenthood’s 2022-23 annual report (published in April of 2024), after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, the abortion corporation claimed it hired “90 patient navigators across 41 Planned Parenthood affiliates” which “helped more than 33,000 people get… transportation and travel support, financial assistance, and referrals” for abortions. Reportedly, 15,000+ people received assistance with travel costs, and 50,000+ received assistance in covering abortion costs.
It appears that Planned Parenthood hired extra staff to obtain abortion business, then funded abortions — and then sought sympathy about layoffs and facility closures.
In July of 2025, Planned Parenthood president Alexis McGill Johnson told the New York Times:
“There is not now, and has never been, a plan to stop providing abortion care in the hopes of preserving federal funding.”
The organization clearly prioritized abortion over its Medicaid clients.
Even before the one-year defunding measure was signed into law:
Planned Parenthood was allegedly sending out pink slips.
Some affiliates showed clears signs of financial problems.
Clients at the abortion corporation had been declining for decades.
PP moved toward telehealth services — including chemical abortions, which make up about 70% of its business.
Planned Parenthood often claims that abortion is not a significant part of its business model, but whenever abortion is threatened, somehow that prompts a sudden decision to downsize or lay off staffers, all while playing the victim and raking in millions from empathetic donors.
And that money isn’t always used to help clients.
Former president Cecile Richards said it was her goal to make the corporation into the largest ever “kick butt political organization” – and as a result, the corporation has made many political alliances that benefit its bottom line.
Last year, as Live Action News previously documented, PPFA was accused by those who oversee abortion funds of “siphon[ing] support” and then “funnel[ing] that money into campaign bank accounts.”
Reports indicate that over half of PP affiliates had expenses in excess of the revenue dollars they received — prior to the defund measure being passed. A Live Action News analysis found that:
24 out of 47 Planned Parenthood affiliates showed some sort of deficit in the most recently reported year.
These deficits were recorded prior to the one-year defunding of Planned Parenthood and certain other abortion providers.
This reveals that some Planned Parenthood affiliates were showing signs of potential financial troubles before any federal government dollars were removed.
As affiliates were showing a deficit, some staffers were complaining about pay cuts while executives were unwilling to slash their own pay to save those staffers’ jobs. In addition, donors at the abortion corporation were dropping out.
Prior to the defunding, PP’s Restructuring Plans Were Already in Motion
Planned Parenthood claims it is closing facilities and laying off staff due to the defunding effort, but plans were already in the works to close and consolidate facilities and utilize online telehealth services to a greater degree. Below is a timeline of just some of these events:
May 2023: Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) announced a “strategic decision” to restructure the organization by laying off staff at the national level and instead use those dollars to “build a powerful movement for abortion access at the local and state level.”
These efforts were evident well before the defunding provision was signed into law.
January 2025: PP of Illinois (PPIL) admitted it had “made the difficult decision to close four health centers” due to “facing a financial shortfall brought on by rising health care costs for in-person care, increase in patient volume needing financial assistance, uncertain patient care landscape under a new national political administration, and the need to create a sustainable future after the overturning of Roe v Wade.”
Yet, PPIL announced a plan to “expand[] virtual options via telehealth appointments and the PPDirect app to minimize patient disruption.”
February 2025: The New York Times published an investigation alleging patient care problems and staffing issues at numerous state Planned Parenthood affiliates.
Those issues, some staff members told the Times, stem from financial and political pressures, as well as a funding structure in which the national Planned Parenthood federation focuses the majority of its spending on the legal fight over abortion access, more than providing direct support for the medical care provided by state affiliates.
March 2025: Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawaiʻi, Alaska, India
