Republicans have revived a bill first introduced years ago that would allow states to exclude abortion providers from the government-run Medicaid Program.

The bill is entitled the Women’s Public Health and Safety Act and is aimed at ending the millions of dollars Planned Parenthood receives in Medicaid reimbursements.

According to a recent report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the abortion organization received $1.3 billion in Medicaid reimbursements over the past three years.

U.S. Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), a main sponsor of the abortion defunding bill, said the money accounts for 81 percent of federal tax dollars received by Planned Parenthood.

“Abortion is not health care,” said Lankford. “It should not be controversial to say that taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to support abortion providers.

Planned Parenthood did not respond to inquiries from The Epoch Times about the proposed measure.

In December, before Republicans took over the House, the group praised Democrat-led legislation calling for a record funding of more than $600 million to support abortion.

It also sought to end the longstanding Hyde Amendment, which restricts the use of federal Medicaid money for abortions.

“This amendment most harms people who, due to this country’s legacy of systemic racism and bias, have relied most on Medicaid—including black, Latino, and LGBT people,” Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement.

Congressman Michael Cloud (R-Texas), the main sponsor of the Women’s Public Health and Safety Act, emphasized that each state can decide to opt-in or opt out of Medicaid funding of abortions under the measure.

He cited a study that showed 60 percent of Americans opposed taxpayer-funded abortions.

“For too long, abortion providers have operated on the taxpayers’ dime, while performing elective abortions in the name of ‘healthcare,'” said Cloud.

The bill, which traces its origins back to a similar proposal made by Republicans in 2016, is supported by several pro-life organizations including Students for Life Action, which recently exposed Christian colleges with ties to Planned Parenthood.

The Ethics and Public Policy Center HHS Accountability Project has also endorsed the legislation. The conservative organization opposes terminations and takes on the issue of abortion as a baby’s constitutional right to protection.

With control of the House, the Republicans are introducing a number of bills that died under the Democrats. Many of the bills are aimed at government funding for abortion.

Another revived bill this session is the Prohibiting Abortion on Federal Lands Act, which would prohibit any kind of promotion of abortion on federal government property including military installations, national parks, and courthouses.

The Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act, of which various versions have been introduced since 1998 is back before Congress. Under it, anyone who transports a minor—other than her parent—over a state line for an abortion would be charged criminally and face imprisonment.

New anti-abortion legislation has also been introduced including H. R. 330, which seeks to extend Title X to prohibit any grants under the Public Health Service Act to be awarded to any organization that performs or supports abortion.

Another Republican-sponsored bill called the American Values Act seeks to amend the Foreign Assistance Act Of 1961 enacted under President John F. Kennedy’s Administration to exclude funding of abortions as a method of family planning.

The Pharmacist Conscience Protection Act seeks to protect pharmacists who decline to fill prescriptions for abortion-inducing drugs based on their moral or religious beliefs and also provides them with an avenue to file a civil action lawsuit against a government agency that violates the proposed law.

In January 2023, the House approved another new bill that would give infants who survived an abortion procedure the same right to medical assistance under current laws as a wanted newborn baby.

The bill translates that right into criminal prosecution of doctors for failing to resuscitate babies born following a failed abortion.

“A child who survives an abortion attempt, who is outside the womb, breathing and struggling for life, doesn’t deserve equal protection under the law?” Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) asked at a hearing on the proposal.

While outnumbered by Republican-sponsored anti-abortion bills, there are some Democrat pro-abortion bills including one that calls for the elimination of an existing risk evaluation requirement before receiving mifepristone.

Also known as RU-486, the oral medication is used to trigger a miscarriage in the first 63 days of an unwanted pregnancy. It is also used to end the second trimester of pregnancy.

In all, there are currently about 50 bills and another dozen proposed resolutions dealing with abortion before Congress.