MAGA senator declares war on RFK as pro-lifers mutiny

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) fired off an angry letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday, slamming the department's move to restore certain health grants to Planned Parenthood.

Hawley, a constitutional lawyer by training and one of the most virulently anti-abortion senators in office, demanded action to reverse this policy.

"As you know, Congress has long intended to protect taxpayer monies from funding abortions," wrote Hawley. "During the first Trump Administration, HHS finalized the 'Protect Life Rule' in 2019, which required federal grant recipients to maintain clear physical and financial separation between Title X-funded projects and abortion services. It worked. Planned Parenthood voluntarily withdrew from the program rather than comply, and tens of millions of dollars in Title X funds were redirected to community health centers and other providers that offer family planning services without promoting abortion."

"In its zeal to pacify the abortion industry, the Biden Administration rescinded that rule," lamented Hawley. "Your predecessor at HHS then gave unprecedented 5-year grants to abortion providers under the family planning grant program."

Hawley complained that despite Kennedy vowing not to allow federal grants to abortion providers, "to my knowledge, no rulemaking process appears to have yet begun. And taxpayer money continues to flow."

He concluded the letter by asking several questions of Kennedy, including what steps he is taking to reinstate the "Protect Life Rule" and what their plan is to ensure grants do not subsidize abortions at "grantees that co-locate abortion and family planning services in the same facilities."

Separately from the issue of Title X grants, the Trump administration signed into law a temporary prohibition on Planned Parenthood from accepting Medicaid coverage as part of his "Big Beautiful Bill." That prohibition expires this summer.