Senate abortion-defunding language OK'd by parliamentarian

Sandhya Raman, CQ-Roll Call on Jun 30, 2025

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WASHINGTON — Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough advised Monday that language that would block Planned Parenthood from Medicaid funding eligibility would be permissible for inclusion in the sweeping budget reconciliation bill, a major blow for the nation’s largest provider of reproductive services.

The so-called Byrd rule restricts what can be included in a reconciliation bill, which can pass the Senate with a simple majority. The parliamentarian’s determination that the Planned Parenthood provision complies with the Byrd rule means the language would not be subject to a higher 60-vote threshold, which would’ve essentially killed the provision.

The reconciliation bill is now undergoing a “vote-a-rama” of amendment consideration in the Senate.

The parliamentarian’s decision comes after the Supreme Court ruled last week that Planned Parenthood and its patients could not sue to challenge a state’s decision to exclude the provider from federal Medicaid funds because it provides abortions.

While the Hyde amendment, an annual appropriations rider, prohibits using federal money for abortions except in cases of rape, incest and lifesaving circumstances, abortion providers are eligible for Medicaid reimbursement for covering other services like providing birth control, pap smears or cancer screenings.

Language in a substitute amendment that’s before the Senate would prevent facilities or groups that provide abortions and also received more than $800,000 in Medicaid reimbursements in 2024 from being eligible for federal funding for one year. The Congressional Budget Office projects the provision would cost $52 million over ten years. The Senate Finance Committee’s original language would have prohibited funding for 10 years.

The House bill uses a higher threshold of at least $1 million in Medicaid reimbursements in 2024. CBO estimated that implementing the House language would cost the government $261 million over 10 years.

Planned Parenthood has stated that both provisions are crafted specifically to apply only to the organization. But following the news, Maine Family Planning, a network of 63 clinics, said it would also be impacted by the Senate language and it would be “cataclysmic for patients in Maine and across the country,” according to CEO George Hill.

“The shock this will have on our health care system cannot be overstated,” Senate Appropriations ranking member Patty Murray, D-Wash, said in a statement. “Republicans’ last-minute changes to shorten the timeline of this provision hardly matter — once health clinics lose funding and are forced to close their doors, they are unlikely to reopen again.”

Murray offered an amendment to strike the provision, but Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., raised a point of order that it would violate 1974 federal budget law. The Senate fell short of waiving the point of order, which requires 60 votes.

“Republicans will stop at nothing in their crusade to take control of women’s bodies and deny them the right to make their own health care decisions,” Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Senate Budget Committee ranking member Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., said in a joint statement.

Planned Parenthood announced Monday that it would launch an ad buy in Washington, D.C., and seven competitive House districts, urging lawmakers to oppose the bill. The organization said that if the defunding takes effect, they expect nearly 200 clinics in 24 states would be at risk of closing.

“No other health provider can fill the gap if Planned Parenthood health centers are ‘defunded,’ meaning many will have nowhere to go,” said Lauren Garcimonde-Fisher, vice president of brand at Planned Parenthood Action Fund, in a statement.

Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, typically oppose efforts to limit abortion rights, meaning the inclusion of the language could complicate securing their support on passage of the bill. The vote on waiving the point of order for the Murray amendment was 49-51, with Collins and Murkowski joining all Democrats.

This is not the only Planned Parenthood defunding effort to encounter Byrd rule challenges. While some abortion-related provisions under consideration during the reconciliation process have passed the parliamentarian’s muster, others have not.

The parliamentarian in 2017 advised that language preventing tax credits from applying to insurance that covers abortions and a provision that would have defunded Planned Parenthood for one year did not pass muster. Senate Republicans later adapted the defunding language and pursued it as an amendment during a vote-a-rama, though it did not pass the 60-vote threshold.