The GOP’s plan to defund Planned Parenthood would add $300 million to the deficit

The contentious plan to defund Planned Parenthood, included in the Republican-backed reconciliation bill that would slash millions in Medicaid funding, would cost taxpayers $300 million over the next decade, according to a leaked preliminary estimate compiled by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

The news comes as House Republicans have doubled down on the proposal to prohibit funding to Planned Parenthood, despite some moderate Republicans’ opposition to the measure. Medicaid already does not fund most abortions due to the Hyde Amendment, so the proposed cuts to the health centers would instead affect the provision of services such as pap smears, cancer screenings, and birth control. These services account for the majority of Planned Parenthood’s work, while abortions only account for four percent of services the organization’s affiliates provide.

Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said the organization provides those services to more than two million people a year. More than half of its patients use Medicaid and other public insurance programs, and most of the clinics are located in underserved areas.

Spokespeople for the CBO declined to comment on how it arrived at the $300 million estimate. Back in 2017, when Republicans tried, and failed, to defund Planned Parenthood, the CBO estimated increased government costs would come from additional births stemming from a lack of access to contraception and other services Planned Parenthood provides, as well as more children enrolling in Medicaid. The latest projected increase comes as especially ironic in light of President Donald Trump’s promises to slash spending, cut government programs, and slash personnel in an effort spearheaded by Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Speaker Mike Johnson’s office (R-La.) did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Politico reported on Tuesday that Republicans released the estimates before the House Energy and Commerce Committee took up the legislation. That process ended Wednesday afternoon after more than 26 hours, during which time Democratic lawmakers slammed Republicans for claiming to care about women’s health while seeking to defund Planned Parenthood.

McGill Johnson said in a statement that the new CBO estimate shows that the reconciliation bill “is about attacking Planned Parenthood and taking away people’s access to essential health care.” While the bill text does not mention Planned Parenthood by name, it takes direct aim at Medicaid funding to “essential community providers that are primarily engaged in family planning services or reproductive services” and that receive one million dollars or more per year. New research published on Tuesday by Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights research and policy organization, notes that other health centers “would need to dramatically increase their contraceptive client caseloads” if Planned Parenthood was, indeed, defunded.

Rachana Desai Martin, chief U.S. program officer at the Center for Reproductive Rights, said that Medicaid is critical to ensuring that millions of low-income Americans can access sexual and reproductive health services.

“Defunding providers like Planned Parenthood would eliminate that choice and targets communities who are already facing barriers to care,” she added.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said in a statement that despite polling that shows most Americans oppose defunding Planned Parenthood, “Republicans are so hell-bent on ripping away reproductive freedom at any cost that they are refusing to listen to their own constituents.”

The latest attack is not the only effort to restrict Planned Parenthood’s services. A case currently pending before the Supreme Court could allow states to unilaterally cut off Planned Parenthood’s access to Medicaid funding, as my colleague Madison Pauly has covered. In March, the Trump administration withheld tens of millions of dollars in Title X funding, which Planned Parenthood and other health centers use to provide birth control and other services to low-income people.

It looks like this latest effort to defund Planned Parenthood may also, ultimately, fail, just like it did in 2017: Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said Wednesday he thinks the House reconciliation bill will struggle to pass the Senate. Spokespeople for Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The irony of all this? It’s coming during National Women’s Health Week, which the White House acknowledged on Monday.