Backing Away From the Hyde Amendment Is a Big Deal

Abby McCloskey, Bloomberg Opinion, January 9, 2026

“The anger among conservatives about President Trump’s comments on the Hyde Amendment, which bars federal funds from being used for abortion, is not insider Beltway baseball. It’s not a splinter in the MAGA coalition, generously salted by mainstream media outlets. It’s a historic departure on one of the clearest moral issues in conservative orthodoxy.

Two-thirds of Republicans believe abortion is always, or almost always, morally wrong, according to Pew Research. No Republican president has ever waffled on his support of it — until now. “You have to be a little flexible on Hyde, you know that,” Trump told congressional Republicans at a retreat this week. “You gotta be a little flexible. You gotta work something … we’re all big fans of everything. But you have to have flexibility.” . . “