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When a federal appellate court recently upheld Congress’s decision to defund Planned Parenthood from Medicaid funding, the ruling carried weight far beyond courtroom procedure. It was not just a legal correction—it was a moral and constitutional affirmation.
As Joshua Arnold reported in The Washington Stand, Congress passed an appropriations bill that prohibited federal Medicaid funding from going to any organization that “provides for abortions.” Planned Parenthood, which committed over 402,000 abortions in 2024 while pocketing $792 million in taxpayer funds, immediately sued. A lower court judge blocked Congress’s will through sweeping injunctions. But on appeal, even a panel of Biden-appointed judges concluded the obvious: Congress controls the purse, not the courts.
This is no small matter. At stake is both the sanctity of human life and the integrity of the U.S. Constitution.
Taxpayer Money and the “Culture of Death”
For decades, Planned Parenthood has profited from abortion while receiving billions in federal funding. This is the very embodiment of what Virginia Christian Alliance calls the “culture of death” —a system that normalizes abortion, discards embryonic children, and treats life as disposable. Scripture is clear: “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves” (Proverbs 31:8). Yet Planned Parenthood silences the voiceless, not only by killing unborn children but by demanding the public pay for it.
When Congress chose to stop taxpayer money from underwriting this industry of death, it was acting squarely within both moral and constitutional authority. Taxation should never force Americans to fund practices many recognize as murder in the womb.
The Constitutional Bearing
Arnold notes the clarity of the appeals court’s decision: Congress appropriates; the executive executes; the judiciary adjudicates. The district court’s attempt to override Congress’s power of the purse was judicial activism at its worst. But the First Circuit’s panel restored the balance.
This is a constitutional victory as much as a pro-life one. When courts invent reasons to funnel taxpayer money to Planned Parenthood, they trample both the rule of law and the will of the people’s representatives. When appellate judges, despite partisan appointments, side with constitutional order, it reminds us: sometimes, the system still works.
Life Is Not Negotiable
The sanctity of life pillar of VCA insists that every embryo, every unborn child, bears God’s image and has intrinsic worth. Planned Parenthood’s business model is built on denying that truth. As Dr. Al Mohler has warned, whenever life is abstracted—whether in abortion or in practices like IVF where “excess” embryos are discarded—the result is a dangerous devaluing of human beings.
A Call to Perseverance
This court ruling is a reminder: victories can still be won for life, even in hostile cultural and judicial environments. But it is also a call to perseverance. Planned Parenthood and its allies will not stop litigating or lobbying to restore their taxpayer spigot. Christians must remain vigilant—praying, voting, and advocating until every child in the womb is protected by law and cherished by culture.
In the end, this is not just about budgets or court opinions. It is about whether America will continue subsidizing a culture that kills its children, or whether we will reclaim our constitutional order and biblical calling to defend life.
