President Trump said Tuesday he might pursue criminal charges against Planned Parenthood officials for their alleged role in trafficking the organs of aborted fetuses.
His disclosure came the same day the Trump administration is taking steps to freeze tens of millions of dollars in federal family-planning grants sent to the organization, a move aimed at defunding the group that provides health services to women, including abortions.
When asked if he would open a federal probe into the harvesting allegations, the president told reporters, “I think you are talking about a subject that’s been a heated subject and we’ll look into it. We’ll look into everything, but that’s certainly a subject that’s been debated for a long time and we will look into it.”
In 2015, an anti-abortion group released undercover videos of a Planned Parenthood official discussing in graphic detail how to abort a fetus to preserve its organs for medical research, as well as the costs associated with sharing that tissue with scientists.
Several of the videos showed Planned Parenthood representatives haggling over prices and in one case joking about wanting a Lamborghini with the anti-abortion activists, who were posing as biomedical researchers.
After the video leaked, Cecile Richards, then-president of Planned Parenthood, admitted in an 11-page letter to Congress that its affiliates had accepted payments ranging from $45 to $60 “per tissue specimen” from abortions, but said they were reimbursements to cover costs, which federal law allows.
But she also acknowledged that “adjustments that facilitate fetal tissue donations rarely occur at a few of our clinics that offer women this service.” That prompted some antiabortion activists to declare that they had proven their point that price adjustments were occurring.
Richards died in January at age 67.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is putting federal funds for Planned Parenthood on hold while it probes whether the money was used for diversity equity and inclusion efforts. That would run afoul of an executive order Mr. Trump signed after taking office eliminating DEI efforts at the federal level.
A White House official stressed that no final decision on any spending changes or grants to Planned Parenthood have been made.
By pausing the money, the Trump administration is essentially defunding Planned Parenthood, which has long been the goal of conservative lawmakers because it performs abortions.
Planned Parenthood and its affiliates, which were set to get about $120 million this year, would be impacted by the freeze. The funds were aimed at supporting pregnancy testing, treatment and evaluation of sexually transmitted diseases, and counseling for infertility, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the move.
The money is distributed by the Department of Health and Human Services under its Title X program. The $120 million is roughly half the money available for the program this year and provides services for about 4 million people through a network of roughly 4,000 clinics, according to Planned Parenthood.
A Health and Human Services official said the agency “expects all recipients of federal funding to comply with federal law.”
“Across the federal government, President Trump is safeguarding the American taxpayer’s hard-earned dollars by ending the senseless taxpayer funding of DEI programs and initiatives, including grants to institutions in blatant violation of federal law. The administration supports the proper stewardship and prioritization of taxpayer dollars and will work to ensure all federal grantees are compliant with federal laws prohibiting discrimination,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said.
Planned Parenthood said the DEI issue was just a pretext to deny health care to women.
“The Trump-Vance-Musk administration wants to shut down Planned Parenthood health centers by any means necessary, and they’ll end people’s access to birth control, cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, and more to do it,” Planned Parenthood Federation of America CEO Alex McGill Johnson said in a statement.
Democrats also expressed outrage over the halt to funding.
“Fundamentally we are talking about the Trump administration cutting off very basic and lifesaving health care. Title X has long had bipartisan support and I hope every one of my colleagues who support basic, cost-saving family planning services will speak out against this illegal hijacking of lifesaving funding women across America are counting on for health care,” said Sen. Patty Murray, Washington Democrat.
