Defunding Planned Parenthood hinted at as President Trump tasks Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to cut federal costs

Image credit: Alexander Mils / Alicia Petresc via Unsplash

CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, Elon Musk, and former presidential candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy, have indicated they will defund Planned Parenthood, after President-elect Donald Trump tasks them with cutting federal government costs.

In an op-ed published by Wall Street Journal, Musk and Ramaswamy said in light of President Trump’s re-election as US President earlier this month, President Trump had tasked them with heading the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, “to cut the federal government down to size.”

“We will serve as outside volunteers, not federal officials or employees. Unlike government commissions or advisory committees, we won’t just write reports or cut ribbons. We’ll cut costs,” they said. “The two of us will advise DOGE at every step to pursue three major kinds of reform: regulatory rescissions, administrative reductions and cost savings.”

“DOGE will present this list of regulations to President Trump, who can, by executive action, immediately pause the enforcement of those regulations and initiate the process for review and rescission,” they added, also saying that they are “focused on delivering cost savings for taxpayers.”

Their op-ed continues where they indicate that they will cut overspending of taxpayer funds going to Planned Parenthood, which could mean the abortion cooperation could be defunded.

“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,” they said.

According to Live Action, Planned Parenthood commits around 40% of abortions in the US, with their recent annual report of 2022-23 showing that they had committed around 20,000 more abortions compared to their previous year. Additionally, their most recent report shows that they received almost $700 million dollars in taxpayer funds for the year ending in June 2023 – this was a 4% increase from the previous year.

Despite often promoting itself as “providing healthcare”, Planned Parenthood have been caught in a series of allegations and scandals, which have been reported by Live Action. These scandals include lying and misinforming women, failing to provide adequate care and failing to report child abuse.

Sandra Parda of the Life Institute said that defunding Planned Parenthood was an important step forward in establishing a culture which instead cherished both mother and baby. 

“Taxpayer funds shouldn’t prop up abortion or abortion providers like Planned Parenthood. People deserve better than this. They deserve to be provided with real support and real healthcare.”