Abortion opponents have been on a crusade to “defund” and shut down Planned Parenthood for years, but they’ve recently ramped up rhetoric around stripping public funding from the health care provider as part of a reinvigorated anti-abortion offensive under the second Trump administration. The consequences could have devastating effects nationwide—and not just on reproductive health care.

During a Students for Life of America webcast on April 15, anti-abortion activist Abby Johnson went as far as suggesting “it’s worth it” to force a federal government shutdown if Planned Parenthood funding isn’t cut from the Congressional budget.

Comparing the federal budget reconciliation to “a game of chicken,” Johnson asked viewers: “How long are we willing to hold out and say we’re not going to allow the murder of any more babies with our tax dollars?” She continued: “We’re going to hold out as long as possible until the Democrats fold on this, and I think they would fold.”

Threatening a government shutdown would have dire effects on the national economy, leading to furloughs, delayed paychecks, and interruptions in crucial government services ranging from veteran benefits to national park operations. Threatening a government shutdown is a destructive means to an even more destructive end.

But despite the possibility of exacerbating the U.S.’s already growing health care deserts, anti-abortion activists are willing to take extreme measures to ensure the collapse of Planned Parenthood. Causing collateral damage may even be part of the goal. Indeed, anti-abortion organizations and politicians are renewing attacks on Planned Parenthood across all three branches of government: via presidential executive order, federal legislation, and in a South Carolina case currently under review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

This multipronged attack on Planned Parenthood could have devastating consequences for individuals on Medicaid who rely on Planned Parenthood for the myriad health care services they provide outside of abortion—most notably affecting low-income communities already facing barriers to medical care access.

It’s worth noting that the Hyde Amendment already prohibits federal funds going toward abortion care, but that hasn’t stopped the onslaught. In addition to attacking Planned Parenthood for its prominence as a national abortion care provider, conservative activists are increasingly emphasizing the need to defund Planned Parenthood on the grounds that the clinics serve trans and nonbinary individuals seeking gender-affirming care.

Lila Rose, founder and head of the anti-abortion organization Live Action, made this point clear on a recent episode of her podcast: “They’re the second-largest provider of hormone drugs to people struggling with gender identity. I think that all of this needs to be understood within the context of we are funding them, $700 million a year in taxpayer money. That’s a ton of money, guys.”

Later in the episode, Rose went on to suggest that Planned Parenthood is only providing gender-affirming care for financial incentives: “Planned Parenthood, who knows where the money is, who tries to follow the trend, they’re not only increasing their abortion numbers but Planned Parenthood has been increasing their handing out of hormones. That’s their new business model. They’re not just committing abortions, but they’re now handing out gender transition care, gender therapies, hormone therapies, and they’re making money off of that.”

Efforts to restrict access to gender-affirming care are particularly concerning as they come amid a growing trend of states banning such treatments for trans and nonbinary youth. Gender-affirming care is literally life-saving care, and we should be expanding and protecting access, not making it harder to get.

Sadly, transphobia is not abortion opponents’ only new line of attack against Planned Parenthood. They’re also attempting to parlay their opposition to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and so-called “woke ideology” into new reasons to deny funding to the provider. Already, the Trump administration has leveraged its made-up DEI bogeyman to undercut Planned Parenthood in a move that will strip the organization of tens of millions of dollars in Title X funding dedicated to family planning and reproductive health. In doing so, at least eight states will be left with zero Title X funds, leaving a gaping hole in reproductive health care access for low-income Americans and decimating essential resources for numerous non-Planned Parenthood providers, too.

Amid these attacks, Planned Parenthood locations are striving to remain open, with clinics “doing everything in our power to expand and meet the health care needs in our community,” as one clinic executive director told NPR. Planned Parenthood’s most common services involve providing contraceptive care and sexually-transmitted infection testing and treatments.

The majority of voters oppose taking federal funding away from Planned Parenthood. We can’t allow anti-abortion extremists to threaten taking our government hostage to force unpopular policies that are sure to cause immeasurable damage to public health outcomes.