When it comes to the pro-life movement, the Hyde Amendment is considered untouchable.
It is the only safeguard we have in place that blocks federal funding from being used to pay for abortions nationwide.
For some reason, Donald Trump has told Republicans to be flexible with Hyde, and now the entire pro-life movement is going ballistic.
For those of you unfamiliar with this legislation, I will give you the short version.
This was passed in 1976, and while it has been altered by Congress several times since, the heart of the legislation has remained the same.
It blocks federally-funded abortions except in cases where the mother’s health is at risk, incest, or when the woman involved was raped.
This is legislation that must be kept in place if we are going to prevent Democrats from releasing a trove of taxpayer money to fund abortions nationwide.
Reports broke earlier in the week that Trump met with Republicans and encouraged them to loosen up when it comes to the Hyde Amendment.
He reportedly told members of the GOP caucus, "You have to be a little flexible on Hyde, you know that.”
Trump continued, "You gotta be a little flexible. You gotta work something … we’re all big fans of everything. But you have to have flexibility."
That set off a firestorm reaction from pro-life groups, and they are not playing games in terms of pulling their support if anything happens to the Hyde Amendment.
One of the first reactions came via Life News, which posted, "No President Trump, we will NEVER compromise on the Hyde Amendment. NO taxpayer funding of abortions. Period.”
The true haymaker was thrown by Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, who stated, "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 continued, “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."
The Susan B. Anthony group is a major player, and if it pulls its support, it will be a problem for Trump and Republicans during the upcoming election cycle. I don’t know how Trump fixes this, but he'd better do it fast.
