Will Republicans Allow Taxpayer-Funded Abortion?

Most House Republicans appear to uphold the party’s longstanding principle against allocating taxpayer funds for abortion, despite President Trump’s call for them to be “flexible” on it.

“We’re not going to authorize taxpayer funding for abortion. I mean, It’s been a consistent policy,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who spoke at the March For Life in 2025, told reporters at the Capitol on Wednesday.

“We are not going to change the standard that has been, frankly, bipartisan up until recent days… I’m just not going to allow that to happen,” Johnson continued.

President Donald Trump casually told House Republicans at a retreat Tuesday to be “flexible” on the issue of Hyde provisions in healthcare legislation.

The Hyde Amendment is named after the late Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., whose 1976 amendment to a health funding bill prohibited funding for abortions “except where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term.”

Since then, Hyde provisions have been a non-negotiable item for Republicans in funding bills.

“You have to be a little flexible on Hyde, you know that,” Trump said as he laid out a game plan for Republicans to win on the healthcare issue in 2026. “You’ve got to be a little flexible.” 

However, Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., told The Daily Signal, “All the folks I hear from are very committed to Hyde.”

“The Speaker, I think, is very committed to Hyde. So I don’t envision anything coming to the floor that would in any way impede the protection of life,” Rep. Harris, a Southern Baptist pastor, said.

Republicans have yet to send a bill to Trump’s desk which would address rising health insurance premiums, after the recent expiration of enhanced premium tax credit levels set in place under President Joe Biden.

Any comprehensive healthcare reform would likely require Democrat support in the Senate.

But most House Republicans do not appear to believe any flexibility is needed for a rule that has not been broken for half a century.

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., also rejected the idea of finding middle-ground on the issue.

“There’s no flexibility,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “You’re either using public funds to pay for abortion or you’re not. We’re not sure there’s a compromise available.”

Harris, a Roman Catholic, chairs the House Pro-Life Caucus.

Political Pragmatism

Trump is not the first to mention the Hyde issue as negotiable in seeking a deal with Democrats on healthcare and insurance legislation.

Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., told reporters in December, “The real problem is the Hyde amendment issue, and I would urge that our groups that support us look at the big picture here. We either have incremental wins or we lose everything.”

Democrats have already scorned the idea of Hyde provisions as a non-negotiable item.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., has rejected increasing abortion restrictions in healthcare legislation, calling it “a nonstarter” in November.

“I don’t think you’re going to get Democratic votes talking about abortion,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., also told reporters in November. “But there are conversations you can have about the structure of the subsidies once you get into a negotiation.”

However, House Republicans do not appear to be challenging Trump’s record on abortion.

“This president’s the most pro-life president we’ve ever had,” Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told reporters Wednesday. “The reason we got the Dobbs decision is because this guy put three great justices on the United States Supreme Court who understand the sanctity of life is critically important.”

“President Trump is the most pro-life president in the history of the country. I mean, his record speaks for itself,” Speaker Johnson said.

Top Senate Republicans are also signaling support for Hyde.

“I’m not flexible on the value of every child’s life. Children are valuable, and so I’d have to get up to the context of what [Trump] meant by that,” Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., himself a Southern Baptist minister, told reporters Tuesday of Trump’s call for “flexibility.”

In December, Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., told The Daily Signal that Hyde protections are “critical” for any healthcare bill to have a chance of passing.

Rounds said that “if you’re using taxpayer money, it has to be protected by Hyde Amendment protections that it is not using any taxpayer money for abortions. That’s critical.”

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