Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, is calling on the U.S. House of Representatives to end federal funding for abortion and gender-altering treatments for minors after the Senate rejected his amendment to the 2026 Senate Budget Resolution Wednesday.
“Last night the Senate REJECTED my amendment to ban taxpayer money from funding trans treatments for MINORS. It is indefensible,” Hawley said in a post on X. “The House Republicans must act immediately to stop this – or billions of tax $$ will be spent on trans drugs for kids. Get it done. No excuses.”
Hawley sent a letter to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson Thursday, asking him to “protect America’s children” and “ban federal funding for these trans-treatment and abortion providers” in the upcoming Budget Resolution.
Within the past three years, Planned Parenthood has received more than $1.5 billion in taxpayer dollars from Medicaid and Medicare, Hawley said at the hearing Wednesday, adding that the money is then used to perform “risky surgeries and procedures for our children.”
“This is wrong. This is a terrible misuse of federal funds, and we should put a stop to it,” Hawley said to introduce his amendment.
In the One Big Beautiful Bill passed last summer, Congress cut the federal funding of abortion providers for one year – the first major pro-life funding reform in more than two decades, according to a Live Action press release.
“Congress has long sought to separate abortion funding from federal spending, and the 2025 reconciliation bill reaffirmed that Americans should not be forced to subsidize abortion through federal programs,” said pro-life leaders, led by Live Action, in a letter to the Senate Wednesday.
This halting of abortion funding, however, is currently set to expire July 4, which would then allow more than $830 million of federal funds to be sent annually to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers, according to the press release. Hawley’s amendment sought to extend the prohibition of such funding from fiscal years 2026 to 2035.
In a letter, the coalition of pro-life organizations asked the Senate to “solidify” the end of abortion funding for the “maximum duration” permitted under reconciliation bills. The maximum duration is a ten-year prohibition under current statutory budget reconciliation limitations – the same duration Hawley’s amendment recommended.
“As the nation approaches the 250th anniversary of American independence, Congress has an obligation to ensure that federal spending reflects fiscal discipline, accountability, and respect for life,” the letter states.
Planned Parenthood and similar abortion providers also offer cross sex hormones to minors and promote sex education programs in schools, according to Live Action.
In a Senate hearing with U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Wednesday, Hawley referenced Beacon Health Reproductive Network – an abortion provider in his state of Missouri – which provides so-called gender-affirming care to children, including sex-transition surgeries. Beacon received $8 million in taxpayer funding because of the Title X grants under HHS, Hawley said.
Title X provides clinics with services such as birth control, STI testing and cancer screenings, and has previously funded abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood. HHS paused funding to these abortion clinics last spring but was forced to pay out the final year of the five-year grants, due to “litigation risk,” Kennedy said.
“I think that we should not be funding entities like this,” Hawley said. “And personally, I’d rather take the risk in litigation than subject children in my state to transgender care, funded by federal taxpayer dollars.”
