President Donald Trump called on House Republicans to be “flexible” on the Hyde Amendment while pitching healthcare reform on Tuesday.
The Hyde Amendment prohibits federal funds from being used for abortion.
Trump told GOP House members during the retreat at the Trump-Kennedy Center that they should work to take the issue of health care away from Democrats.
“We don’t have that as one of our issues. It’s the only thing they have. They’re lousy at it. They came up with Obamacare. We tried to fight it. We almost had it won, but we didn’t get three votes,” he said.
“You want to turn this thing? You work on Favored Nations, you work on borders, you work on all of the things that we talked about, but now, you take the healthcare issue away from them, and they want to fight it. You know why? They’re all owned by the insurance companies,” he added.
“Let the money go in a healthcare account, or however you do it. Let the money go directly to the people. Now you have to be a little flexible on Hyde. You know that,” he said. “You’ve got to be a little flexible. You’ve got to work something. You’ve got to use ingenuity. You’ve got to work.”
“We’re all big fans of everything, but… you have to have flexibility,” he added.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser opposed Trump’s comments in a press release titled “Hyde Is Non-Negotiable.”
“For decades, opposition to taxpayer funding of abortion and support for the Hyde Amendment has been an unshakeable bedrock principle and a minimum standard in the Republican Party,” she said.
“To suggest Republicans should be ‘flexible’ is an abandonment of this decades-long commitment. If Republicans abandon Hyde, they are sure to lose this November,” she added.
Dannenfelser added that being flexible on the Hyde Amendment “would be a massive betrayal.”