As Washington sleepwalks toward another self-inflicted controversy, Sen. Josh Hawley is demanding answers about a question many taxpayers may be asking: exactly where did all that federal healthcare money go?
The Missouri Republican is calling on Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz to investigate whether taxpayer-funded healthcare dollars helped support Planned Parenthood’s rapidly expanding involvement in gender-transition services for minors.
The timing is hardly accidental.
A federal restriction preventing taxpayer funds from flowing to abortion providers is scheduled to expire on July 4 after lawmakers failed to make the prohibition permanent. Republicans pushed to extend the measure, but those efforts stalled, leaving critics warning that billions in public funds could continue flowing to organizations whose priorities are increasingly drawing scrutiny.
Now Hawley wants federal investigators to follow the money. “I urge you to direct your investigative efforts toward Planned Parenthood and its role in pushing transgender madness onto minor children,” Hawley wrote in a letter seeking a formal review of the organization’s finances and activities.
At the center of the dispute is roughly $1.5 billion in Medicare and Medicaid funding received by Planned Parenthood entities between 2019 and 2022, according to figures previously documented by the Government Accountability Office. The GAO report itself did not conclude that those funds were used for gender-transition drugs or procedures. But Hawley argues the financial support helped sustain an organization that has significantly expanded its transgender-related services.
“The organization openly advertises that it provides sex-change drugs and refers for transgender surgeries,” Hawley wrote. “According to one recent report, Planned Parenthood’s provision of this so-called ‘gender-affirming care’ has exploded — with a 40% year-over-year increase.”
In recent years, several European health authorities have moved away from an earlier “affirmation-only” approach for minors, citing concerns about limited long-term evidence and the need for stronger safeguards. Meanwhile, multiple U.S. states have enacted restrictions on puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgical interventions for minors, while supporters of such treatments continue to argue they are medically necessary for some patients.
Hawley, however, sees something far more troubling. He accused Planned Parenthood of exploiting “legal loopholes to provide these dangerous and irreversible gender-transition drugs to minors without their parents’ consent.” That allegation strikes at the heart of a growing political battle over parental rights, informed consent and whether taxpayer-funded institutions should play any role in facilitating gender-transition treatments for children.
Republicans last year succeeded in including language within President Donald Trump’s sweeping domestic policy package that temporarily blocked federal funding from reaching abortion providers. Hawley later sought to extend the restriction through 2035, but the proposal failed to gain enough support during budget negotiations.
With that avenue closed, the senator has shifted his focus toward oversight and investigation. “In other words, billions of taxpayer dollars have been taken from those in poverty and the elderly and given to Planned Parenthood,” Hawley wrote. “Moreover, these funds apparently have been used to prop up Planned Parenthood’s provision of transgender procedures to children.”
Planned Parenthood has long maintained that federal funds it receives are used for services permitted under federal law, including healthcare screenings, contraception and other medical services. The organization has also defended its provision of gender-related healthcare as lawful and medically supported. So, the shell game continues.
