Josh Hawley Urges Trump to Defund Planned Parenthood, Undo Biden’s Abortion Agenda

In a new opinion column out today, Senator Josh Hawley advocates for President Donald Trump to prioritize reinstating pro-life policies that were reversed during Joe Biden’s administration. He says Trump should quickly overturn Biden’s radical abortion agenda so Americans are not forced to promote abortions and the abortion industry with their tax dollars.

“Most everyone recognizes President Trump’s marquee pro-life accomplishment: the Supreme Court’s landmark Dobbs decision in 2022, which overturned Roe v. Wade with the votes of the justices Trump appointed and returned the abortion question to the people. But that wasn’t his only pro-life achievement—far from it. The first Trump administration advanced a series of life-protecting rules and regulations through federal agencies that saved untold lives,” he writes.

Hawley highlights several key actions from Trump’s first term that he believes should be restored:

Title X Funding Restrictions: Reinstating rules that prevent federal family planning funds from going to abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood, emphasizing that abortion does not build families.

Support for Pregnancy Resource Centers: Making these pro-life pregnancy centers eligible for federal funding to provide resources like ultrasounds, diapers, and counseling to expectant mothers, often at no cost.

Mexico City Policy: Reapplying the policy to block federal funding to groups like International Planned Parenthood that promote abortions and kills babies, ensuring American foreign aid nurtures life rather than ending it.

Hawley argues that these measures are essential for protecting unborn children and setting a pro-life tone for Trump’s second term. He emphasizes the significant influence federal agencies have through their rules and regulations, which carry the force of law due to congressional delegation of authority.

“President Donald Trump can set the moral tone for his second term with the stroke of a pen. He can restore the full suite of pro-life policies that his own Department of Health and Human Services developed during his first term. No priority should be—could be—higher than protecting America’s unborn children,” Hawley says.

The column underscores the urgency of reversing the Biden administration’s pro-abortion policies and restoring what Hawley views as Trump’s pro-life legacy at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Hawley writes:

Many Americans don’t realize just how consequential agency actions truly are. These rules set the direction of policy for the whole of the government—and federal agencies influence policy in the states, too, through extensive grant programs and other means. Because Congress regularly delegates massive authority to federal agencies, the rules and regulations they promulgate carry the force of law. For those reasons, directing the federal bureaucracy is one of the president’s greatest powers.

President Trump should use that power to protect life, just as he did in his first term. In the first Trump administration, HHS advanced a broad slate of pro-life measures critical to defending the unborn.