Republicans have long sought to eliminate the Title X ‘family planning’ program that distributes money to abortion providers. Why not now?

Who says Congress can’t get anything done? Very early this morning, the House passed the rescissions bill, which cuts $9 billion from public broadcasting and foreign assistance, as requested by President Trump and revised slightly by the Senate. That is the first rescissions package to reach the president’s desk in more than 25 years. We at NR are especially thrilled that PBS and NPR will no longer receive federal funding (for now) and are hopeful that this process will revive the practice of rescissions as a regular part of governance to reduce unnecessary spending piece by piece.

Already, the head of Trump’s Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, is saying that he intends to submit another rescission request to Congress soon. He did not elaborate on what specific spending his office would target next but claims that “there is still a great enthusiasm for these rescissions bills.”

If the White House is taking suggestions for rescissions, I would offer one that should go over well with Republicans in Congress and would complete an undertaking that is already half-done: the Title X Family Planning Program. Signed into law in 1970 by President Nixon (who was not remotely as conservative as most people remember him), the program doles out millions of dollars every year to “family planning” clinics across the country, many of which also happen to provide abortions. The largest recipient, by far, is Planned Parenthood and its local affiliates.

At an annual cost of $286.5 million, Title X is not a significant fiscal drain, but there is no reason that such a program should be funded by the federal government. The money it spends cannot directly pay for abortions, thanks to the Hyde Amendment, but let’s be serious. Money is fungible. Giving taxpayer funds to abortion providers — even if it’s technically earmarked for condoms and birth control pills — is a subsidy for abortion. When House Republicans proposed ending Title X in a 2023 appropriations bill, Representative Rosa DeLauro (D., Conn.) gave the game away when she said the proposal “limits women’s access to abortion.” Not just contraception, then?

Defunding Title X through rescissions is an obvious move for Republicans to make. It’s a discretionary program funded through annual appropriations, so it’s perfectly eligible to be rescinded under the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974. Rescissions bills need only a simple majority in the Senate to pass through Congress. In other circumstances, Republicans have long called for Title X to be eliminated. President Trump’s budget request to Congress for 2026 would do that, but it’s extremely unlikely to pass, as appropriations bills are subject to the filibuster. Ending Title X through a rescission, on the other hand, is much more politically feasible.

When Republicans speak of “defunding Planned Parenthood” at the federal level, they refer primarily to Title X. The party went much further toward defunding the organization in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, as the bill ended all federal Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood for non-abortion services. Yet millions of dollars still flow to Planned Parenthood, as well as other abortion providers, through the “family planning” program.

Any Republican representative who voted for the reconciliation bill should have no problem voting to rescind Title X funding. The effort to halt federal abortion subsidies is already halfway done. Why not finish the job? Even moderate members who favor keeping abortion legal (such as Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski) ought to recognize that forcing every American taxpayer to fund abortion providers, regardless of their moral and religious convictions on the issue, is obscene.

Of course, there are plenty of other good targets for future rescissions requests. The federal government is rife with programs that well exceed its enumerated powers and should be stricken from the earth. But very few are more offensive than Title X. After 55 years of bankrolling the abortion industry, Republicans should seize this opportunity to put it down.