Planned Parenthood leads in federal lobbying spending among abortion-related groups

Federal lobbying efforts by abortion rights group and reproductive health provider Planned Parenthood have not dramatically shifted in the year since Roe v. Wade was overturned, lobbying numbers from the first half of 2023 show. 

The group still leads the pack when it comes to abortion-related federal lobbying efforts, dramatically outspending other abortion rights and anti-abortion rights groups. That’s despite the fact that its spending has decreased slightly from this time last year. 

During the first half of this year, Planned Parenthood reported spending about $714,000 on federal lobbying — a slight decline from this time last year, when the group spent about $740,000. 

Federal lobbying spending for the reproductive rights group slowed dramatically between the first and second quarters of this year. Planned Parenthood reported spending about $510,000 during the first three months of 2023 — nearly triple the amount the group spent over the same period in2022. In the second quarter of 2023, the group spent about $204,000 — a more than $300,000 decrease from the previous quarter and a nearly $366,000 decrease from second quarter spending in 2022.

Federal lobbyists also reported work for Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California this year. 

Despite a slight decrease compared to its spending this time last year, Planned Parenthood still remains a powerhouse in abortion rights lobbying spending. NARAL Pro-Choice America, another prominent abortion rights advocacy group, has reported spending $30,000 this year on federal lobbying — a fraction of Planned Parenthood’s spending. 

Planned Parenthood also outspent the top-spending groups opposed to abortion by hundreds of thousands of dollars. Right to Life, a nationwide organization, has spent $160,000 so far this year on lobbying, while Susan B. Anthony List, a prominent anti-abortion rights nonprofit, has spent $590,000.

While Planned Parenthood’s 2023 lobbying spending still dwarfs other abortion rights groups, the number of federal lobbyists representing the reproductive rights group declined from last year. The group had 17 lobbyists representing them in 2022. So far this year, they have 16. The number of lobbyists representing Planned Parenthood has been gradually declining each year since a massive spike in the number of federal lobbyists hired by the group in 2021 — jumping from 10 lobbyists in 2020 to 18 lobbyists in 2021, an all-time high for the group.

Planned Parenthood still has more lobbyists than any other abortion rights and anti-abortion rights groups. NARAL Pro-Choice had a slight decline in lobbyists this year, dropping from five lobbyists to three. Meanwhile, anti-abortion rights groups’ lobbyist representation has remained consistent from 2022 into 2023, with National Right to Life reporting three lobbyists in 2022 and 2023 and Susan B. Anthony List reporting six lobbyists for both years.

Planned Parenthood’s reported lobbying efforts targeted several different bills during the first quarter of the year, including the Affordability is Access Act, Women’s Health Protection Act and the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage Act. 

The group also lobbied against the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, a bill introduced and passed by the House in January that would require health care professionals to provide care for a child born alive after an attempted abortion — which rarely occurs — and criminalize health care providers who fail to do so, despite the fact that killing an infant is already considered homicide. 

In a press release, Jacqueline Ayers, senior vice president of policy, organizing and campaigns at Planned Parenthood, called the bill “deliberately misleading and offensive to pregnant people and the doctors and nurses who provide their care. It is yet another attempt by anti-abortion politicians to spread misinformation as a means to their warped political end: to ban safe and legal abortion.”

Second quarter lobbying efforts by Planned Parenthood focused largely on budget appropriations for various departments, including the Department of State, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense. 

Planned Parenthood’s lobbyists also lobbied on several bills. One piece of legislation named in lobbying disclosures is the Black Maternal Momnibus Act. The bill, which was introduced in May by Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), aims to reduce maternal mortality and improve maternal health, especially for women of color. 

“Systemic racism in health care disproportionately impacts Black women and communities, too often with devastating and preventable consequences,” Alexis McGill Johnson, president of Planned Parenthood, announced in a press release on the bill’s introduction. “Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, this crisis has only heightened across the country, as lawmakers hostile to our rights have put essential health care out of reach for millions.”

Other bills Planned Parenthood lobbied on focus more specifically on access to abortion services, including:

• The Women’s Health Protection Act of 2023 — a bill introduced by Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) in March that would prohibit governmental restrictions on the provision of and access to abortion services.
• The Equal Access to Abortion Coverage Act— a bill introduced by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.-12) in the House in January that would require federal healthcare programs, such as Medicaid and Medicare, to provide coverage for abortion services and require federal medical facilities to provide access to those services. 
• The Let Doctors Provide Reproductive Health Care Act— a bill introduced by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) in April that would prohibit individuals, entities and state governments from restricting or interfering with the provision of reproductive healthcare services.