The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services headquarters building in Washington, D.C. | Credit: ajay_suresh, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Jan 14, 2026 / 20:46 pm (CNA).
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday denied knowledge of reports that his administration has restored millions of taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood.
According to Jan. 13 report in Politico, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) last month restored Title X funding to Planned Parenthood. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Monday dropped a lawsuit against the administration related to this funding.
Planned Parenthood and some other clinics will be able to submit reimbursement receipts to the government for low-income patients who received birth control and other non-abortion services, according to the Politico report.
While the funding won’t directly cover abortion —the Hyde Amendment prevents the federal government from doing so — the funding will subsidize an organization that performs hundreds of thousands of abortions yearly.
When asked about the report on Wednesday, Trump told reporters: “I don’t know anything about that.”
“I have not heard that,” added HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
The issue immediately stirred controversy in the pro-life movement. Many pro-lifers have spoken out against the move, calling on the administration to fully defund Planned Parenthood. Others have defended the Trump administration, saying it was their best legal option.
Live Action and Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America (SBA), two organizations that advocate for legal protections for unborn children, have been urging the Trump administration to completely defund Planned Parenthood.
“The Trump administration has quietly restored millions of dollars in Title X grants to Planned Parenthood that it had withheld since March of 2025,” said Lila Rose, founder of Live Action, in a statement shared with EWTN News. “PP kills 1,102 babies daily with your taxpaying dollars. We must fully defund abortion corporation Planned Parenthood!”
While the first Trump administration enacted a “Protect Life Rule” which stopped abortions from using Title X funding, the second administration has not yet done so.
SBA urged the administration to “immediately reinstate” this rule.
“The Protect Life Rule from the 1st Trump admin stopped Big Abortion businesses from using Title X taxpayer $$ as a slush fund. Biden canceled it,” read a statement shared with EWTN News. “The Trump admin must immediately reinstate it.”
Members of the country’s pro-life movement are set to rally at the annual March for Life on Jan. 23 in Washington, D.C. Leading voices in the movement have been calling for the complete defunding of Planned Parenthood and renewed safety restrictions on the abortion pill mifepristone. Though the administration ordered a review of the pill months ago, the review has not been completed. In fact, the administration recently approved a generic form of the abortion drug mifepristone.
