WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) – President Donald Trump offered a non-committal response Monday when asked about the future of taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood, which is set to be restored this summer unless Congress takes action.

Last July, Trump signed into law his controversial “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (BBB), a wide-ranging policy package that included a one-year ban on federal tax dollars going through Medicaid to any that provides abortions for reasons other than rape, incest, or supposed threats to the mother’s life. However, that provision is slated to expire this July, spurring pro-life calls to at the very least renew it, if not enhance it with more lasting language.

At the White House Monday, Daily Signal White House Correspondent Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell raised the issue with the president. “Would you like Congress to use reconciliation to—” she got out before Trump cut in.

“Well, we’re gonna see what happens,” he said. “Congress is now negotiating. We’ve been very good for the people that want it, for the people that are here, and we’ll see how that goes…. To put it mildly, it’s been a very thorny issue. It’s all under negotiation right now.”

“Would you like to see that defund continued?” Mitchell attempted to repeat, but Trump moved on to another questioner.

🚨Planned Parenthood funding resumes July 4. I asked @POTUS if he would like Congress to stop it.

“Congress is now negotiating. We’ve been very good for the people that want it, for the people that are here, and we’ll see how that goes. It’s been a very thorny to put it. To put… pic.twitter.com/MYzOnfboNX

— Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell (@TheElizMitchell) May 11, 2026

Cutting off federal funds to the abortion industry is the issue on which Trump’s second term most closely resembles the pro-life record of his first, but whether he and congressional Republicans are willing to insist Planned Parenthood remains defunded amid “thorny” budget negotiations and a litany of unrelated political challenges remains to be seen.

The White House’s budget proposal for the 2027 fiscal year contains numerous pro-life provisions, but White House budget proposals are not binding, and actual budgets typically end up falling far short after working their way through Congress. Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson reportedly ruled out including a renewal of Planned Parenthood’s aforementioned defunding in the most recent reconciliation bill, in the interest of passing a clean renewal of funding for the Department of Homeland Security and, with it, the president’s deportation agenda. However, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) says Johnson is “doing everything he can to make sure” Planned Parenthood remains defunded by the July 4 deadline.

The administration also angered pro-lifers last month by renewing Biden-era Title X grants to Planned Parenthood for one more year. They claim they were bound by law to do so, but stressed this would be the final year. Pro-lifers have urged Trump to reinstate his first term’s Protect Life Rule, which required complete “financial and physical” separation between Title X recipients and involvement with abortion.

On April 22 a coalition of 40 pro-life leaders sent a letter calling on Congress to renew the defunding not for another year, but for another ten. U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) has already introduced an amendment to the latest Senate Budget Resolution, which would extend the ban through 2035.

To end the cycle of uncertainty of having to periodically fight for temporary defunding measures at regular budget intervals, pro-lifers have also called for new standalone laws to fully and permanently defund the abortion industry: the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act, which permanently bans federal funds from being used for abortion; and the Defund Planned Parenthood Act, which disqualifies Planned Parenthood and its affiliates specifically. But they would require 60 votes to make it through the Senate.