The nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has worried some abortion opponents, as his past comments suggest that he has a liberal position on reproductive rights. I am concerned about what has been expressed.
Kennedy, a former Democrat who ran for president as an independent before supporting Trump, has said in multiple interviews that while he is “personally pro-life,” he doesn't want to interfere with a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy. said that he did not believe that it was the government's role. As recently as May, he said women should be able to have an abortion at full term, but later walked back that statement and expressed support for some restrictions on abortion.
Pro-life groups interviewed by FOX News Digital expressed optimism for Trump's election victory, noting the previous administration's strong support for their cause. But they want Kennedy to explain how he will use HHS' broad powers to create regulations on abortion drugs and control funding for abortion providers like Planned Parenthood. .
“He certainly needs to change his position on abortion to be consistent,” said Sean Carney, co-founder and CEO of 40 Days for Life. “Look, if RFK wanted to take away our Fruity Pebbles and Cool Ranch Doritos – both great American institutions – because they're unhealthy, they can't do that and they're going to cause a disaster.” You can't deny medical care to a surviving baby girl. Either you abort it at 40 weeks, or you support abortion.”
Pence says he opposes RFK Jr.'s nomination to head HHS because of his stance on abortion
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visits “The Martha McCallum Story” at Fox News Channel Studios on September 25, 2024 in New York City. (Jason Mendes/Getty Images)
Kennedy did not respond to requests for comment on this story. His nomination was met with open opposition from some pro-life advocates, including former Vice President Mike Pence.
“The Trump-Pence administration has been unapologetically pro-life during its four years in office. Hundreds of decisions are made every day at HHS that will lead our country toward or away from respect for life. “The HHS under our administration has always held that position 'throughout his life,'” Pence said Friday in a lengthy statement posted on the website of his nonprofit group, Advancing American Freedom. Ta.
He called Kennedy's nomination “a departure from our administration's pro-life record,” citing Kennedy's past pro-choice comments.
“If confirmed, RFK Jr. would become the most pro-abortion Republican Secretary of Health and Human Services in modern history,” Pence wrote.
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The Department of Health and Human Services “has a huge impact on access to abortion,” said health care attorney Harry Nelson, founder and managing partner of the Nelson Hardiman law firm.
The Food and Drug Administration, an agency of HHS, has direct authority over the availability of the abortion drug mifepristone. The pill, known by the brand name Mifeprex, is a two-drug therapy used in conjunction with Mifeprex that first deprives the fetus of the hormones it needs to survive, then causes convulsions and contractions that cause the dead fetus to be transferred to the mother's womb. discharge from.
The Biden administration has taken several steps to ease regulations and increase access to mifepristone by making it available through telemedicine nationwide. Pro-life groups have fought in court to overturn that deregulation.
“While their efforts earlier this year failed in the Supreme Court, having a sympathetic leader at the top of the FDA will have a huge impact and make this the biggest abortion issue in this country,” Nelson said. said.
Mifepristone, also known as RU-486, is a drug typically used in combination with misoprostol to produce medical abortions and manage early miscarriages during pregnancy. The Biden administration has taken several steps toward deregulating abortion drugs. (Soumyabrata Roy/NurPhoto, Getty Images)
HHS also oversees grants through Title X and other programs for abortion providers, such as Planned Parenthood. Pro-life activists are calling on the incoming Trump administration to defund these providers. Additionally, HHS is responsible for enforcing federal laws that require emergency treatment to stabilize the condition of patients, including women with health risks from pregnancy. The Biden administration is using a law called EMTALA to require states to allow doctors to perform emergency abortions when the mother's life is in danger.
“It will be interesting to see the impact of RFK and how the Trump team around him shakes things up,” Nelson said. “I don't think this is an issue that RFK is personally passionate about. Pro-life hardliners will be targeting mifepristone, and that will be the major fight to watch.”
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President Trump welcomes President Kennedy to the stage during the Turning Point Action campaign rally at Gas South Arena in Duluth, Georgia on October 23, 2024. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
President Kennedy said his position on the issue has evolved since learning about the rate of elective late-term abortions.
In an interview with comedians Shane Gillis and Matt McCusker in May, Kennedy admitted, “My position on abortion has always been that it should always be the woman's choice, all the way to the end.”
“Nine months old is basically killing a child, right? My guess is. […] No woman would intentionally carry a child for nine months and then abort it two days before it is born. Who would do that? ”
But he claimed he changed his view after examining data on late-term abortions and finding that they were occurring more frequently than he had once believed.
“But then I learned that I was wrong, that back then elective abortions were actually in relatively large numbers,” he said during an interview. “My belief at that point is that you have a fully formed, viable child at that point, and the state has some interest in protecting that baby.”
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Some pro-lifers are giving Kennedy the benefit of the doubt because they trust Trump's judgment. During his first term, President Trump kept his campaign promise to appoint pro-life judges to the U.S. Supreme Court, overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022 after nearly half a century of anti-abortion activism.
“There is no question that we need a pro-life HHS Secretary, and of course we have concerns about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. I believe that the basic policies established will be “re-established,'' said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life.
Brian Birch, president of Catholic Vote, said Mr Kennedy was not someone who could be “easily labeled”.
“Mr. Birch publicly acknowledged that his comments about unrestricted abortion were false. He also said that abortion is a tragedy and that we must help as many women as possible who want to keep their children.” '' Birch told FOX News Digital.
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President Kennedy watches as President Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Glendale, Arizona, on Friday, August 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
In the days before Election Day, Kennedy worked with CatholicVote on a TV ad that aired in the battleground state of Pennsylvania encouraging Catholics to support Trump. Birch told Semaphore that President Kennedy had discussed his views on abortion with the group and agreed that “we need to spend the same amount of money supporting women's choice to keep their children as we do supporting abortions.” He said that this cooperation was realized several months after receiving the agreement. . ”
In comments to Fox News Digital, Birch praised Kennedy's advocacy against “Big Pharma, Big Food, and Big Government,” saying that if Kennedy is confirmed by the Senate, these will be the pro-life movement's anti-Trump He said it was an issue that could be easily addressed with the administration.
“There is no denying that RFK is not a traditional pro-life advocate, which is why we firmly oppose HHS efforts to expand or promote abortion and abortion funding.However, we also I am confident that the reforms he is proposing will result in “a rethinking of the entire food, health care, and pharmaceutical industries that enable our tragic abortion culture.'' said Birch.
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Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life Action, told Fox News Digital that Kennedy was “the only presidential candidate to admit he was wrong about abortion in America and change his mind.”
“Whoever goes to HHS, we will want to have a conversation with them about how HHS has weaponized the expansion of abortion and bigotry against pro-life Americans, including pro-life hospitals,” Hawkins said. he said.
Still, some remain skeptical.
“I don't think anyone is convinced that RFK will undo some of Biden's abortion policies. He has not shown any public support for abortion throughout 40 Weeks,” Carney said. “I think a lot of people would say this is his only flaw.”
Fox News Digital’s Timothy HJ Nerozzi contributed to this report.
