President Donald Trump urged Congress to loosen up on a key Republican amendment that prevents taxpayer-funded abortion.
Trump said Republicans need “to be a little flexible on Hyde” in order to make health care a winning issue for the GOP. Notably the Hyde Amendment prevents tax dollars from funding abortion services but makes exceptions for cases of rape, incest, and to protect the life of the mother.
‘I’m not flexible on the value of every child’s life.’
“You have to be a little flexible on Hyde. You know that. You got to be a little flexible,” Trump said Tuesday. “You got to work something. You got to use ingenuity. You got to work.”
These remarks were quickly met with pushback from prominent pro-life groups as well as Republican lawmakers who called the amendment a nonnegotiable.
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Republican Sens. James Lankford of Oklahoma and Roger Marshall of Kansas both stood firmly against watering down or giving up on the Hyde Amendment despite the pressure from the president.
“I’m not flexible on the value of every child’s life,” Lankford told Huffington Post.
“I certainly understand where the president’s coming from, but I’m unapologetically pro-life,” Marshall added.
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Pro-life groups like Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America pointed to Trump’s past support for the amendment, calling it a “minimum standard” for the Republican Party.
“The voters sent a GOP trifecta to Washington, and they expect it to govern like one,” SBA President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement. “Giving in to Democrat demands that our tax dollars are used to fund plans that cover abortion on demand until birth would be a massive betrayal.”
“President Trump has consistently supported the Hyde Amendment. He pledged repeatedly to make it permanent law, including in health care coverage, and one of his first actions upon taking office last year was prioritizing the reversal of President Biden’s Hyde violations.”
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