{"id":499262,"date":"2026-01-07T16:12:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T16:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/499262\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T16:12:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T16:12:11","slug":"uncommon-knowledge-trump-hit-with-an-obamacare-boomerang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/499262\/","title":{"rendered":"Uncommon Knowledge: Trump Hit With an Obamacare Boomerang"},"content":{"rendered":"

The law of unintended consequences aptly arrived in black robes. On January 6, Wyoming\u2019s Supreme Court struck down<\/a> both a near-total abortion ban and the country\u2019s first explicit ban on abortion pills, citing a 2012 state constitutional amendment that promises “each competent adult shall have the right to make his or her own health care decisions.”<\/p>\n

“This ruling is a victory for the fundamental right of people across Wyoming to make decisions about their own lives and health,” said Julie Burkhart, who runs Wellspring Health Access, the state\u2019s lone abortion clinic. The catch is that the sentence doing the work she welcomed was drafted years ago to fight the Obamacare wars, not the abortion wars. It’s a boomerang that has swung round on Republicans.<\/p>\n

Wyoming is not alone. During the Tea Party wave, several red states wrote nearly identical “health care freedom” provisions into their constitutions, aimed at blocking the Affordable Care Act\u2019s mandates. Arizona\u2019s constitution now says no law may “compel\u2026 any person, employer or health care provider to participate in any health care system.” Oklahoma\u2019s does, too. Ohio added a “Preservation of the freedom to choose health care” clause. All three sit on the books today. If “abortion is health care,” as Wyoming\u2019s High Court held, those anti-ACA boomerangs could yet spin back across state lines.<\/p>\n

Common Knowledge<\/p>\n

Progressives say the legal logic is straightforward. If a state constitution explicitly protects “health care decisions,” then abortion, whatever else it is, fits the category. Vox spoke for many by calling it the moment Republicans “accidentally protected abortion while trying to kill Obamacare,” a “symbolic effort” that “sabotaged” a core conservative goal.<\/p>\n

Conservatives counter that the voters who passed those Obamacare-era amendments were not voting on abortion at all, and that the legislature (or the voters) can rewrite the constitution to make that clear. Wyoming\u2019s attorney had argued as much at earlier stages and Governor Mark Gordon is now pressing the case. He described the opinion as “profoundly unfortunate.”<\/p>\n

After President Donald Trump urged Republicans on Tuesday to be “a little flexible” on the decades-old Hyde Amendment to cut a new health-care deal, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America\u2019s Marjorie Dannenfelser warned that such flexibility would be “a massive betrayal” that could doom the party in November.<\/p>\n

Uncommon Knowledge<\/p>\n

Wyoming\u2019s Article I, Section 38\u2014adopted in 2012 amid anti\u2013Affordable Care Act fervor\u2014reads, in part, “Each competent adult shall have the right to make his or her own health care decisions.” The amendment passed with overwhelming support, a testament to how Obamacare was the proxy fight of the time.<\/p>\n

Many similar versions exist. Arizona added Article XXVII, \u00a72 in 2010: “A law or rule shall not compel\u2026 any person, employer or health care provider to participate in any health care system.” Oklahoma\u2019s Article II, \u00a737 says the same. Ohio\u2019s Article I, \u00a721 declares the “preservation of the freedom to choose health care and health care coverage,” barring government from compelling participation in a “health care system.” These weren\u2019t drafted with abortion in mind; they were written to defy the ACA\u2019s individual mandate. But it might not matter.<\/p>\n

Medication abortion already accounts for 63 percent of clinician-provided abortions, up from 53 percent in 2020\u2014a structural shift since Dobbs. If “health care freedom” clauses protect adult decision-making about lawful medical care, bans on prescribing mifepristone are the square peg for a suddenly round hole. Wyoming\u2019s decision didn\u2019t create that paradox, it merely revealed it.<\/p>\n

There are caveats. Wyoming\u2019s opinion emphasized that the constitution\u2014not the court\u2019s own policy preferences\u2014drives the result, and it left open whether a future law that survives “strict scrutiny” could pass muster. The court also noted that if legislators want a different policy, they can ask voters to change the constitution; Governor Gordon has now invited them to do just that. And the ruling binds only Wyoming. But the context beyond state lines is shifting: two abortion-rights amendments are already certified for 2026 ballots (Missouri and Nevada), and organizers in other states are pushing their own measures.<\/p>\n

The day before Wyoming ruled, Reuters tallied multiple Republican-led state lawsuits aiming to curtail mifepristone access notwithstanding FDA approvals. And then there is Trump, who told House Republicans to be “flexible” on the Hyde Amendment\u2014a ban on most federal abortion funding that has shaped health-care politics since 1976\u2014in order to cut a new health-insurance subsidy deal after enhanced ACA premium aid lapsed at the end of 2025. The last time conservative politics went all-in on health care, states embedded “health care freedom” in their constitutions. A decade later, those words are the sharpest tool for keeping abortion pills legal.<\/p>\n

Ohio litigants have already cited their “Health Care Freedom Amendment” in abortion cases, even before voters adopted an explicit reproductive-rights amendment in 2023. And Arizonans and Oklahomans didn\u2019t just pass statutes, they constitutionalized the language, making it far harder to repeal than an ordinary bill.<\/p>\n

The broader lesson is about American politics\u2019 habit of unintended consequences. The boomerang, and others, may not have finished swinging. <\/p>\n

If you\u2019re enjoying Uncommon Knowledge, please share. If you have suggestions for future editions or feedback, email subscriber.feedback@newsweek.com<\/a>. We want to hear your voice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The law of unintended consequences aptly arrived in black robes. On January 6, Wyoming\u2019s Supreme Court struck down…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":499263,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[3789,69,193788,210,1141,1142,191284,67,132,68,1669],"class_list":{"0":"post-499262","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-abortion","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-for-members","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-health-care","13":"tag-healthcare","14":"tag-uncommon-knowledge","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-wyoming"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/499263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}