While the fight continues over the Trump administration's pause of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for review, especially in the courts, it's worthwhile to look at what's been on the chopping block thanks to a review from Elon Musk. Among those entities and causes being cut, which hasn't gotten nearly enough attention, is the money that Planned Parenthood stands to lose.
Predictably, International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), put out a statement decrying Trump's pause, especially since USAID handles the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
As the statement, warning about how "The Trump administration has launched a 'war on development', leading human rights organisations say," read in part [emphasis added]:
The executive order implementing a 90-day pause in US foreign development aid is wreaking havoc on the lifesaving work of human rights, civil society, and grassroots organisations —according to ILGA World and IPPF.
- Sexual and reproductive health services suddenly were forced to suddenly stop or drastically cut operations, including those further impacted by the reinstatement of the Global Gag Rule, leaving millions of people without access to lifesaving care.
- The funding suspension initially impacted also the over 20 million people living with HIV directly supported through the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Later, however, a life-saving humanitarian assistance waiver” walked back the decision, yet excludes activities related to abortion or family planning, gender or DEI programs, gender-affirming surgeries, and other activities deemed to be “non-life saving assistance.”
- IPPF anticipates it will lose US$61 million from cuts due to refusing to sign the Global Gag Rule. Programs affected - mainly in Africa - provide sexual and reproductive health services for millions of women and youth, many of whom will be forced to continue with a pregnancy they did not want or have an unsafe abortion they may not survive.
- United Nations agencies have begun cutting back their global aid operations as a direct consequence of the 90-day foreign aid suspension.
- Without guaranteed funding, implementing organisations will have no choice but to lay off thousands of health workers and programme staff.
- Even if funds are reinstated after the “assessment of consistency with US foreign policy”, the bottoming out of the health sector means there are no guarantees that organisations will be able to continue serving our communities.
There was plenty of more fearmongering from there, especially as abortion was frames as a matter of "development," according to IPPF.
Such a statement also no doubt looks to tug on Americans' heartstrings by focusing on terms such as "marginalised people," warning that "People will die..." along with how there is a risk of "worsening humanitarian crises, violence, conflict, and political instability." American aid, the statement insists, is necessary, though the kind of grift that USAID has been for liberal politicians and causes is left out:
“The US, currently the largest provider of Official Development Assistance (ODA), is choosing to leave behind the already most marginalised people across the world, in the name of far-right regressive policies,” said ILGA World and IPPF.
“This is a war on development. People will die because the Trump administration is using life-saving funding as a leverage to advance a hateful dystopia. American aid with further conditionality will be unable to reach the most vulnerable populations, undoing decades of progress on health, security and human rights.”
“This devastating blow to foreign aid risks worsening humanitarian crises, violence, conflict, and political instability,” ILGA World and IPPF conclude. “This is the opposite of building ‘harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries’ that the Trump administration claims to seek.”
“Now more than ever, we are in solidarity with our global movements. We will continue to fight alongside them. We will not be fearful or silenced; but instead use this moment to galvanise our communities. But we need to be prepared: vital resources and life-saving programmes may not come back — at least not without severe limitations and exclusionary conditions.”
“We call on more States to step in with development aid, listen to the needs and priorities of grassroots communities, and provide them with a lifeline.”
The Daily Citizen, an outlet for Focus on the Family, referenced part of that statement to call out IPPF and also highlight how they exposed themselves. This includes how PEPFAR is used to deal with matters beyond AIDS, such as elective abortions. There's also mention of catering to "trans and gender diverse persons."
As the article from last Friday explained helpfully breaking down the numbers in the process [emphasis original]:
Between 2021 and 2022, more than 25 explicitly pro-abortion organizations spent a combined $1.34 billion PEPFAR donations.
One of these groups is the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). USAID paid it $8.9 million between 2015 and 2025 to execute contracts related to expanding “family planning and sexual and reproductive health.”
IPPF’s current contract with USAID would have paid out $45 million by 2028.
In a statement opposing USAID’s closure and the State Department’s temporary pause on foreign aid spending, IPPF unwittingly revealed exactly what it uses PEPFAR money for:
[The US State Department’s] funding suspension initially impacted the over 20 million people living with HIV directly supported through PEPFAR. Later, however, a life-saving humanitarian assistance waiver walked back the decision, yet excludes activities related to abortion or family planning, gender or DEI programs, gender-affirming surgeries and other activities deemed to be non-life saving assistance.
In short, IPPF resents that money from an AIDS relief program will go only toward people suffering from AIDS.
It’s also concerned about diminished “sexual and reproductive health services,” linking to an Instagram post from a company called Gender DynamiX — “Africa’s first registered public benefit organization to focus solely on issues of trans and gender diverse persons.”
Without US tax dollars, it will have to stop administering opposite-sex hormones.
There's further connections with Planned Parenthood and USAID. As the Washington Examiner highlighted, those who worked for USAID have gone on to work for the abortion giant. "A number of USAID alumni end up working for organizations with explicit ties to the Democratic Party. The Washington Examiner identified three former USAID employees working for the Democratic National Committee, two working for organizations linked to Arabella Advisors's pro-Democratic dark money network, one at New America, two at the Center for American Progress, and three at Planned Parenthood," the article explained.
Absolutely https://t.co/HfVm2hTOwM
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 8, 2025
That Planned Parenthood would lose funding under President Donald Trump's second term is hardly surprising. There's his track record as a pro-life president during his first term. Further, just weeks after Trump won the election and days after the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was announced, Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy--the latter who has since split from DOGE to run for governor--wrote an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal about their plans for reform. Planned Parenthood cuts were mentioned.
As their op-ed mentioned, "...DOGE will help end federal overspending by taking aim at the $500 billion plus in annual federal expenditures that are unauthorized by Congress or being used in ways that Congress never intended, from $535 million a year to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and $1.5 billion for grants to international organizations to nearly $300 million to progressive groups like Planned Parenthood."
In a column published last Friday with Townhall, Jordan Sekulow, the executive director of the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ), spoke to and praised the plan to cut Planned Parenthood.
Trump has also shown himself to be a pro-life president still. Not long into his second term, he also issued an executive order enforcing the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits the use of federal taxpayer dollars used to fund or promote elective abortions. The president also reinstated the Mexico City policy, "to ensure that U.S. taxpayer dollars do not fund organizations or programs that support or participate in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization," a move which was swiftly condemned by Planned Parenthood. Such a memo from Trump also referenced USAID to be made aware of such an update.
Meanwhile, in strong contrast, the vehemently pro-abortion Biden-Harris administration repeatedly used USAID to push for abortion in Africa, as Fox News reminded in an article from earlier this month.
— @StateDept ordered embassies worldwide to only fly the American flag — not activist flags.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 28, 2025
— The Mexico City Policy was reinstated to ensure no taxpayer dollars support foreign organizations that perform, or actively promote, abortion in other nations.
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