Anti-abortion groups have increased their activism following the exclusion of a prohibition on Medicaid funding for abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, from the Republicans’ latest reconciliation 3.0 framework.

A one-year ban on abortion providers billing Medicaid for non-abortion services, part of the GOP’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed by President Trump last year, expired on July 5, 2026. Anti-abortion activists had been urging for this provision to be included in a new reconciliation bill, a special budget process that allows Republicans to bypass a Democratic filibuster in the Senate.

However, Republicans’ second reconciliation effort was a limited package focused on immigration enforcement and Border Patrol funding. This week, House Republicans unveiled a $95 billion reconciliation 3.0 framework allocating funds for defense, farm aid, and grants to encourage voting restrictions. The framework notably omitted any offsets for the new spending and excluded measures to restrict Medicaid funds from abortion providers.

House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), involved in crafting the budget framework, acknowledged that reconciliation 3.0 is more limited in scope than previous plans. He noted, “There is definitely a group of members, more than just every other member, that would prioritize the abortion-related issues. We had the time, the luxury of time, in the Big Beautiful Bill to work through that and get at least a partial win for the pro-life movement, I was very happy about that.”

Planned Parenthood Action highlighted last year that the defunding provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act would increase federal spending by $52 million over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Meanwhile, anti-abortion groups remain vocal. Deretich of Students for Life stated, referring to investigations into Planned Parenthood’s COVID-era relief fund applications, “For us, it’s all of the above when it comes to defunding.”

This development threatens to deepen the rift between Republicans and anti-abortion activists, who have also criticized the Trump administration for not using executive authority to restrict abortion-related medications delivered by mail.

Sources