Tax dollars shouldn’t fund abortions, sex change treatments, Hawley says, urging House to amend budget

Billions of taxpayer dollars will fund abortions and transgender treatments for minors, come July, unless the U.S. House of Representatives adopts an amendment to defund Planned Parenthood in its budget resolution – an action Sen. Hawley, R-Missouri, says is essential.

“I hope that the House of Representatives will act. We still have time to stop our money from going to these unconscionable treatments on minors and to abortion, but we’ve got to act now,” Hawley told The Lion in an interview Wednesday.

“If we don’t, billions of dollars will come out of the Medicare program – will come out of support for seniors and the elderly – and it will go instead to conducting these irreversible experiments on children. We cannot allow that to happen. Congress needs to act immediately.”

Hawley proposed an amendment to the Senate budget resolution that would have revoked federal funding for Planned Parenthood through 2035, but the Senate rejected it last week.

“I was astounded that the Senate voted to continue funding transgender hormone treatments, puberty blockers for minor children as well as abortions – funding all of that with taxpayer dollars,” Hawley said. “I think it’s wrong. I think it is, frankly, morally indefensible.”

Last summer, Congress paused funding for Planned Parenthood and other abortion and sex-hormone providers for fiscal year 2025, under the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” With the 2025 fiscal year ending, more than $830 million in federal dollars will be sent to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers unless Congress intervenes.

Hawley sent a letter Thursday to House Speaker Mike Johnson asking him to amend the budget resolution to extend the ban, noting that Planned Parenthood received more than $1.5 billion from federal funds under Medicaid and Medicare between 2019 and 2021, according to the Government Accountability Office.

“It is absolutely vital that American tax dollars not go to fund transgender treatments for minor children, and that is exactly what will happen in a short time unless Congress acts,” Hawley told The Lion.

Image credit: Sen. Josh Hawley (Facebook)