Former President Donald Trump’s running mate is pledging to defund the abortion giant Planned Parenthood if Trump is elected for a second term. Senator J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) was asked by RealClearPolitics over the weekend if a second Trump administration would defund Planned Parenthood, a policy Trump discussed during his first presidential bid. Vance replied, “On the question of defunding Planned Parenthood, look, I mean, our view is we don’t think that taxpayers should fund late-term abortions. That has been a consistent view of the Trump campaign the first time around. It will remain a consistent view.”

In comments to The Washington Stand, Mary Szoch, director of the Center for Human Dignity at Family Research Council, said, “The majority of Americans believe that taxpayer dollars should not fund abortion. Planned Parenthood, an organization that kills close to 400,000 unborn babies every year, feels differently.”

She continued, “American taxpayer dollars are meant to help our country be stronger and more secure, and to help our people be healthier and better cared for. Using taxpayer dollars to kill unborn children does not accomplish any of these goals.” Szoch added, “Praise God that the Trump-Vance ticket recognizes that the hard-earned dollars of American men and women should not be used to kill the most innocent among us.”

During his first administration, Trump revised the Title X federal family planning program to bar tax dollars from going to organizations that partnered with the abortion industry or provided referrals for abortions, effectively forcing Planned Parenthood to withdraw from Title X. “For decades, American taxpayers have been wrongfully forced to subsidize the abortion industry through Title X federal funding. So today, we have kept another promise,” Trump announced at a Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America event in 2018. He continued, “My administration has proposed a new rule to prohibit Title X funding from going to any clinic that performs abortions.” The Biden-Harris administration reversed Trump’s Title X rule upon taking office in 2021.

Trump was responsible for appointing three of the U.S. Supreme Court Justices who overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 — an achievement he touts when appealing to conservative evangelicals and Catholics — but announced earlier this year that he intends to leave the issue of abortion legislation to the individual states and will not use federal authority to protect the unborn.

Prior to the 2024 Republican National Convention, Trump was responsible for slashing the Republican Party Platform, removing the GOP’s longstanding commitment to pro-life principles. Since then, both Trump and Vance have avoided promoting pro-life legislation and have even stated that they would oppose a national abortion ban. However, both have also called the Democratic Party “radical” for promoting abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy, even up until the moment of birth, and have pressed Democrats like Vice President Kamala Harris to admit that they support unrestricted abortion.

Earlier this year, Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins called on Trump to defund Planned Parenthood in a second administration, “If you want no federal involvement in abortion, then debar and defund Planned Parenthood. The federal government wasted almost $700 million on Planned Parenthood, according to their 2022-2023 annual report.”