Nowhere to Hyde: Trump’s Chaotic Abortion Stance Rattles GOP

By: Suzanne Bowdey, originally published January 9, 2026, The Washington Stand

Republican leaders knew they were coming back to a headache on health care. What they didn’t know was that the president would be the biggest migraine of them all.

In what was supposed to be a GOP retreat laying out some of the biggest priorities of the year, Donald Trump decided to throw a stick of dynamite into a debate that was already as combustible as it gets for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s (R-S.D.) tiny majority. “You have to be a little flexible on Hyde,” Trump  told  Republicans. “You know that.” But not surprisingly, the suggestion that Hyde — the only amendment standing between Americans and the Democrats’ dream of taxpayer-funded abortions — is negotiable after 50 years set off a string of fire alarms up and down the conservative movement.

“I almost fell out of my chair,” one House Republican  admitted  to Politico afterward. Thune had already conceded that getting past the Democrats’ objections to the Hyde Amendment was “probably the most challenging part” of any negotiations on the Obamacare subsidies. But now, with Trump’s sudden shakiness on a core value, more senators and congressmen are racing to underscore what an unmitigated disaster abandoning Hyde would be — not just for the party, but for millions of innocent lives.

“I’m not flexible on the value of every single child,” Senator James Lankford (R-Okla.) insisted to Family Research Council President Tony Perkins on Tuesday’s “ Washington Watch.” “Every single child is valuable,” he argued. “There aren’t some children that are disposable, and some children that are valuable. Every child is valuable. And so, that’s not an area that I’m flexible on.”

Like so many conservatives, the Oklahoman hands it to Trump for all of the pro-life strides he’s made but underscores what a fatal mistake surrendering on Hyde would be. “I do give him credit. He’s done what’s called the Mexico City Policy [to take away] funding from international abortions with taxpayer dollars. He has actually restored funding that Biden took away from pro-[lifers] with different grants that go to different states. He has been very good on defunding Planned Parenthood. So, there’s been a lot of very, very strong pro-life things that he’s done.” But this, Lankford shook his head, “That’s a red line I’m not going to cross. I’m not going to break [away from] what we’re doing in health care. The VA doesn’t do abortions,” he pointed out. “DOD doesn’t do abortions. [Native American] health care doesn’t do abortions. We don’t do abortions with Medicare, Medicaid. We should not have it anywhere.” Right now, he explained, “The only place that abortion funding for elective abortion exists and subsidizing it is in Obamacare. And that needs to go away.”

Lankford, who held a press call Wednesday morning reiterating that he “cannot support something that intentionally goes around Hyde,” emphasized that he and other Republicans “have been very outspoken to the Trump administration” on this. “They should reverse all those policies,” he said of the COVID-era decision to allow taxpayer-funded abortion in the Obamacare subsidies. “They have had no shame in reversing other Biden policies. They should reverse this policy as well.”

Obviously, everyone in the GOP is desperate to solve the country’s health care problem — especially in an election year when both sides have so much to lose. But walking away from 50 years of principle is a losing strategy in a party where a whopping  83% reject the idea of taxpayer-funded abortion. Americans expect this kind of radical policy proposal from Democrats, who are operating from an ideology untethered from morality. But to see Republicans give even an inch on this outrageous notion that Americans should be forced to bankroll the destruction of human life is astounding.

But then, what do Republicans expect after the miserable excuse for a party platform in 2024? The  16-page memo  was a shell of its  2016 self  in all the ways that mattered. Gone were the calls for protecting life from conception, for opposing taxpayer-funded abortion at home through the Hyde Amendment or abroad through the Mexico City Policy. FRC’s Perkins warned that gutting the language of the GOP’s guiding document would lead to disastrous fallout like this. Without a clear and specific commitment to life uniting Republicans, there’s nothing to bind the president — or anyone else — to conservative absolutes.

Instead, the 2024 document states simply: “We believe that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees that no person can be denied life or liberty without due process and that the states are, therefore, free to pass laws protecting those rights. After 51 years, because of us, that power has been given to the states and to a vote of the people. We will oppose late term abortion while supporting mothers and policies that advance prenatal care, access to birth control, and IVF (fertility treatments).”

The version concocted by the RNC and Trump slashed the pro-life language from more than 1,300 words in 2020 to a paltry 90, telling Americans everything they need to know about its priority (or lack thereof) in this party. Now, a year and a half later, conservatives are wondering why there’s no fidelity to the most basic contract on abortion between this country and its leader.

“It is really remarkable,” FRC’s Quena Gonzalez  admitted  to Perkins on Tuesday. “It’s been in every party platform since Roe v. Wade until two years ago. And President Trump,” he reminded everyone, “issued an executive order in his first month in office on enforcing the Hyde Amendment. So this is a remarkable moment we’re in.” He paused before adding, “Compromise here on something seemingly small, maybe seemingly temporary, is really a red flag because we don’t want to be the party of compromise.”

The problem, FRC’s president pointed out, is that once an exception is made, there’s no going back. “If we say, ‘We’ve got to address this crisis in health care … and the Democrats won’t vote for it unless it covers abortion, so Republicans [have to be flexible]’ … [then] you basically throw [your] principles out the window. If you do it one time,” he contended, “you’ll do it a second time. And if you do it a second time, you’ll do it a third time, and before you know it, we are funding abortions in this country wholesale.”

Meanwhile, the frustration from long-time pro-lifers is palpable. “‘We need to be flexible?’” Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) repeated. “What does that mean?” he wondered on “ Washington Watch.” Trump’s whole statement is bewildering, Smith echoed. “[These are children who are] about to be exterminated in a very painful way, especially through dismemberment, [or] starved to death through the abortion pill [which is] very dangerous to women. Based on the most recent data that came out last April, [there’s] a complication rate of 11%, when they advertised that it’s less than one-half of 1%. So women are suffering. Babies are suffering,” he underscored. “We need to reassert our commitment to the most defenseless group of people on earth: unborn children.”

Amazingly, the Hyde Amendment’s history, as Joe Biden’s pre-presidential run showed, was a story of bipartisan consensus. Until Hillary Clinton’s campaign in 2016, the idea of forcing open Americans’ wallets and ordering them to pay for the destruction of life was never really a question. Year after year, the Marist organization finds that while Democrats may have staked out extreme ground on the issue, voters haven’t followed. As recently as 2025,  57%  of the country still rejects the idea that abortion’s cost should be footed by taxpayers.

One of the greatest fallacies about the Affordable Care Act, Rep. Smith wants people to know, is that President Obama signed an executive order that made the Hyde Amendment apply to his 2010 namesake. “It does not. … [Suggesting that] Obamacare is covered by Hyde [is the] biggest lie I have seen in 45 years as a member of Congress. But it convinced some of the pro-life Democrats to vote for it.” In his home state of New Jersey, “You can’t even get a policy under Obamacare that does not pay for abortion on demand [in my state]. And we allow abortions right up to birth in my state.”

With a touch of bittersweetness, Smith noted the 50th anniversary of the Hyde Amendment this year. “[Hillary] Clinton tried to get rid of it. Obama tried to get rid of it. Biden tried to get rid of it. But there was once a very strong bipartisan consensus. When I first got here in 1981,” Smith reflected, “there were about 80 pro-life Democrats. Now they’re down to zero. … It’s the party of death, the Democratic Party. I say that with sadness.” He paused before stressing, “We need to get abortion out of Obamacare. Precedent becomes potentially habitual, and we don’t want that. So we’ve got to be very concerned about [this].”

We don’t have to imagine how many children would have lost their lives if the Hyde Amendment had never passed. We know.  Two million, six hundred thousand. They’re alive today because our leaders realized what everyone should: no matter what you think about abortion, forcing people to finance the culture of death is un-American and inhumane. And yet, as pro-lifers blow out the candles on five decades of life-saving legislation, the Left is determined to snuff out future generations. The last thing this nation needs is for Republicans to help them.

Suzanne Bowdey serves as editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand.

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