NASHVILLE (BP) — Thousands took part in more than 200 demonstrations nationwide Saturday, June 28, calling on Congress to defund Planned Parenthood.

Defund Day gathered pro-life advocates to protest the nearly $800 million in federal money given annually to Planned Parenthood, an organization that provides nearly 40% of the nation’s abortions. The event was sponsored by Live Action.

“We’re here because we love life. And because life is worth fighting for, and children deserve to live, and women deserve better than Planned Parenthood,” said Life Action Founder and President Lila Rose at an event.

Rose went on to call the Saturday protests the biggest since Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Dobbs decision three years ago. More than 5,000 people are estimated to have attended, a Live Action spokesperson told Baptist Press, with events held in every state that has a Planned Parenthood facility.

Ellen O’Donnell, a member of First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Ga., helped organize the Defund Day event nearby in Marietta.

“If it wasn’t for abortions, Planned Parenthood would go out of business,” she said. “The federal government has no business supporting the evil work of Planned Parenthood, and I don’t want my tax money going for it.”

Defunding Planned Parenthood has been a paramount objective for the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), with ERLC President Brent Leatherwood celebrating a Supreme Court ruling days earlier that placed the goal one step closer.

The June 26 decision in Medina v. Planned Parenthood upheld the right of states to defund the organization by preventing abortion clinics from participating in Medicaid programs. In the Medina case, Leatherwood commended South Carolina lawmakers’ “creative thinking about how to protect life and combat the horrors of Planned Parenthood.”

The federal budget reconciliation bill, named the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” passed the House on May 22 and includes a stipulation freezing federal funds for Planned Parenthood for 10 years. Senate Republicans voted on its passage late Saturday night, with Axios reporting that Senate Democrats plan to force the entire 940-page bill to be read on the floor, which could extend longer than 10 hours. Senate adjustments to the bill could include shortening the time of defunding to just one year.

Defund Day organizers also pointed to Planned Parenthood’s growing practice of giving cross-sex hormones to minors, with no mental evaluation required, as another reason to support its defunding.

“We all know that abortion isn’t health care,” Leatherwood said. “And we know that Planned Parenthood is not an organization that is interested in saving lives. Our tax dollars shouldn’t fund such heinous activity.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Scott Barkley is chief national correspondent for Baptist Press.)