While Americans hang their flags and light their fireworks on July 4, our elected officials just handed Planned Parenthood a gift: our tax dollars. On the 250^th birthday of the greatest nation on earth, Congress chose the abortion industry over the lives of future American citizens. On a day with so much to celebrate, we’re forced to mourn the millions left behind by this choice.

The very nation that was founded on the ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness has betrayed the first of those rights. Innocent children will continue to be killed while we, the taxpayers, are forced to prop up the nation’s largest perpetrator of abortion.

The irony is astonishing.

Planned Parenthood caused the deaths of 434,450 children in the 2024-2025 fiscal year. In just one fiscal year, nearly half a million children are gone because of one American business.

Planned Parenthood has been able to do this by convincing vulnerable women that taking the life of her child will solve her “problems.”

That’s not true.

Add to these horrific numbers the tens of millions lost since abortion on demand became the status quo with the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which paved the way for Planned Parenthood to become the largest abortion operation set on dismantling the family unit.

Planned Parenthood told my then-fiancée (now wife) and me the same “better life” lie 34 years ago.

Afraid and with no one telling us life was a viable choice, we chose to end the life of our first daughter, Sarah, at Planned Parenthood. To this day, we deeply regret the decision we made years ago.

That’s why my heart is heavy today.

It’s weighed down by the knowledge that many more parents will know the grief that racked my wife and me for three decades.

Why?

In large part because the leaders who have taken an oath to protect those they’re elected to serve have turned a blind eye to the destruction Planned Parenthood is causing in their own communities.

Our story is just one out of thousands that proves how misleading Planned Parenthood continues to be.

American society has been desensitized to the true meaning and impact of abortion. Women are sold this lie that abortion is healthcare when, in reality, an abortion creates additional distress for a woman and her child.

Behind each abortion decision is a mother desperately seeking solutions to instability in her life, whether it’s related to her housing, employment, or education.

She may feel pressure from her partner, family, or friends to get an abortion.

She feels that her environment is less than ideal for raising a child.

But when mothers are asked what they would do if their circumstances were different, a majority say they would prefer to parent.

A woman who walks into Planned Parenthood is told that an abortion will offer her a better life. One that frees her from financial burdens, provides safe, stable housing, and offers the emotional support she longs for. But Planned Parenthood isn’t making any of this a reality for women. They’re only offering to end the life of a child in the name of “healthcare.” On the other hand, when a woman is given real solutions to the crises, she’s more likely to reject an abortion.

Today, our nation’s most powerful lawmakers made a choice to continue funding the destructive work of Planned Parenthood rather than standing courageously in the gap for the mothers and children preyed upon by a business that’s operating with the bottom line in mind.

American mothers deserve the best. They deserve encouragement and the promise that it’s possible to be a mom and live a life that brings joy and fulfillment.

Now more than ever, we need to stay committed to American moms and families. No matter where these women find themselves, they deserve to know the truth about abortion and the deep wounds it leaves in its wake.

The pro-life movement needs Americans to stand with us. We need to support moms who feel lonely and vulnerable. We need people who are willing to hold the predatory abortion industry accountable. Planned Parenthood won this battle, but the war is far from over. While this renewed funding slows our progress towards ending abortion, we continue to demand the complete defunding of Planned Parenthood.

All life deserves protection, just as our Founding Fathers intended. Let’s honor their vision for America by making abortion unthinkable and unnecessary.

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Jeff Bradford, president and CEO of Human Coalition, is a former business leader who built and led multiple companies before dedicating his career in 2012 to advancing Human Coalition’s mission to save preborn children and grow it into one of the nation’s largest pro-life organizations.

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What Planned Parenthood Told My Wife 34 Years Ago