Planned Parenthood’s Instagram posts were deleted by the institution on Thursday after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as the director of the Department of Health and Human Services.
All of them, that is:
The internet was captivated by Planned Parenthood on Thursday after all its Instagram posts had been deleted within hours following the swearing-in of Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr.
In an apparent nod towards this, the organization posted a pair of eyes on a dark background in its Instagram story without explanation.
Planned Parenthood’s Instagram page had just three condom-related posts.
Many pro-life activists began to demand the defunding of Planned Parenthood as speculation swirled around the disappearance of these mysterious posts. It comes only days after the conservative watchdog group founded by former Vice President Mike Pence urged the Department of Government Efficiency to reduce federal spending for Planned Parenthood.
This looks like an organization taking steps to remove embarrassing material.
Planned Parenthood’s X account is still active, but no posts have been made since January 20th.
The new HHS head has agreed with the president that abortion laws are a state-specific issue.
Kennedy stated that “every abortion” is a tragedy during his confirmation hearing. He also expressed his support for Donald Trump’s statement that the states should deal with this issue.
“I agree with President Trump that every abortion is a tragedy,” Kennedy said. “I agree with him that we cannot be a moral nation if we have 1.2 million abortions a year. I agree with him that the states should control abortion. President Trump has told me that he wants to end late-term abortions, and he wants to protect conscience exemptions.”
This is not an extreme position. In particular, younger voters are now in favor of some restrictions on abortion. Less than 10% support abortion anytime for any reason.
Planned Parenthood was worried about the billions of dollars in grants they receive from HHS because something, or multiple things, were posted on Instagram. Has the arrival of Mr. Kennedy (who was a Democrat up until five minutes ago) made them worry about social media posts that support “any abortion, at any time, right through to the fetus graduating from high school,” threatening the HHS cash flow?
It could be. It would appear that an organization is hiding something if they delete all of their Instagram posts.
Elon Musk’s DOGE, however, will look at HHS and these grants will certainly be scrutinized. The DOGE should examine this issue from a different perspective. While abortion is an important topic for both sides, it’s understandable. What constitutional authority exists for the federal to support Planned Parenthood? Let PP start charging copays and let the state help out if that is what they want to do. But Washington shouldn’t spend billions on Planned Parenthood – whether or not they perform abortions. As I always say, there are $36 trillion reasons why we should stop funding this gravy train.