President Donald Trump’s first term in the White House was characterized by numerous pro-life victories, ultimately culminating in the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 reversal of Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Following a pivot on abortion while campaigning in 2024, Trump’s second term has delivered a string of policy moves pro-lifers have characterized as disappointing, inspiring backlash from some corners and, from others, pressure to return to the defense of the unborn once championed by both Trump and the GOP. In the latest example, the White House is effectively throwing in the towel on defunding Planned Parenthood.

In January, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) quietly restored Title X funding to Planned Parenthood in what was at the time thought to be a crafty “legal maneuver” to find firmer statutory footing for denying the funds to the abortion giant. But, according to multiple reports, the Trump administration on Tuesday extended Planned Parenthood’s access to Title X funding for another year. While the Hyde Amendment technically bars Planned Parenthood from using taxpayer dollars to directly fund abortions, the decision allows the nation’s largest and loudest abortion profiteer to continue submitting reimbursement receipts to the government for birth control and non-abortion activities for low-income clients, freeing up other funds for abortions.

The Trump administration originally pulled the funds early in 2025 but was promptly met with a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The decision to restore the Title X funds was originally explained as an effort not to entangle further funding cuts to Planned Parenthood, particularly those enumerated in the One Big Beautiful Bill, in the same lawsuit before an “unsympathetic” judge. The funds were slated to expire April 1, but the administration opted at the last minute to renew them through 2027.

Even with the nominal prohibition on taxpayer dollars being used to fund abortions, Planned Parenthood still supplies cross-sex hormones, including for children as young as 12, and has been accused of selling aborted baby body parts. Notably, a congressional probe last year accused the abortion giant of “commingling federal funds and using them for unpermitted purposes,” including abortions.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins was one of many leaders frustrated by the administration's actions. “What does being ‘pro-life’ mean? At its core, it means protecting the lives of the unborn,” he insisted, “not funding those who take innocent life, such as granting Title X funds to Planned Parenthood. That’s why it is so perplexing to see such uneven priorities. The Trump administration has shown a willingness to go to court to pluck Big Bird (defunding NPR and PBS). Yet when it comes to Planned Parenthood — the nation’s largest abortion provider — the same level of resolve is noticeably absent.”

If protecting life is truly the priority, Perkins continued, “then this should not be a secondary issue. This concern is compounded by the decision to leave in place Biden-era policies expanding access to chemical abortion drugs. The result is a system in which abortion is no longer confined to clinics, but increasingly delivered through the mail, effectively turning homes and mailboxes across America into potential abortion clinics. If we are serious about being a pro-life nation, the standard must be consistent. Protecting life cannot be selective, nor can it stop short when it becomes politically difficult.”

The restoration of federal funds to Planned Parenthood is far from the second Trump administration’s only retreat on the issue of abortion. Most notably, the president has refused to regulate the abortion drug, mifepristone, and restore previous Food and Drug Administration (FDA) safeguards requiring that the drug be prescribed, dispensed, and consumed in-person. As a result, the drug is being dispensed remotely and shipped across state lines, even into states with pro-life laws barring abortions.

While FDA Commissioner Marty Makary has pledged to conduct a thorough review of the abortion drug and consider restoring safeguards based on the probe’s results, that review has yet to be completed, nearly one year later. In the meantime, the FDA approved a generic, less expensive version of the abortion drug, prompting backlash from Republican senators, and the Department of Justice (DOJ) has attempted to block lawsuits filed against the FDA aimed at restoring mifepristone safeguards.

The ready (and remote) availability of mifepristone, more than one year into Trump’s second administration, has contributed to a steady increase in abortions. While abortions rose from 1,124,000 in 2024 to 1,126,000 in 2025, the remote prescribing and shipping of the abortion drug across state lines increased by 26% during the same time period. While the president’s shift on abortion has largely been attributed to political calculation, multiple polls over the last year have demonstrated that a broad, bipartisan coalition of voters support regulating the abortion drug.

A McLaughlin and Associates survey released last year found that 71% of voters supported restoring in-person physician exams before prescribing the drug, while a CRC Research poll last month reported that 67% of voters would support the same and 70% would support requiring in-person exams both before prescribing the drug and after the drug was consumed, in order to identify and treat any potential adverse complications.

Crucially, polling firm Cygnal confirmed in February that Republican voters will be less likely to turn out to vote in the midterm elections in November if the GOP continues allowing the abortion drug to go unregulated. Over 70% of Republican voters shared their support for more stringent safeguards around mifepristone: 80% want to see in-person physician visits restored, 71% want to see remote prescribing and dispensing of the drug banned, and 72% disapprove of the FDA’s approval of a generic mifepristone brand. Nearly one third (32%) of Republican voters said that they would be less likely to vote in November if the Trump administration and GOP allow mifepristone to remain unregulated.