
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump’s choose to steer the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Providers (HHS), has been powerful to tie down to 1 stance on abortion. For many of his profession, he has supported it—in stark distinction to the views of many outstanding figures within the present Administration.
However in a Senate affirmation listening to on Jan. 29, Kennedy clarified his place on abortion. “I serve on the pleasure of the President,” he mentioned in response to a query about his abortion beliefs. “I’m going to implement his insurance policies.”
The next day, Kennedy additional cemented his new place when requested if he was hiring people who find themselves pro-life for his division. “Sure, I’m,” he mentioned.
This is what to find out about Kennedy’s previous and present stance on abortion.
What Kennedy has mentioned up to now about abortion
Kennedy, a former Democrat, has lengthy advocated for ladies’s reproductive rights and supported a lady’s proper to decide on whether or not or not she will get an abortion. As a presidential candidate in May 2024, Kennedy described each abortion as a “tragedy” however mentioned the choice must be left as much as ladies, going so far as to say this freedom to decide on ought to prolong to full-term pregnancies.
Shortly after, in an extended post on X, he clarified his assertion however basically continued to again abortion. “I help the rising consensus that abortion must be unrestricted up till a sure level. I imagine that time must be when the child is viable exterior the womb. Due to this fact I might permit acceptable restrictions on abortion within the remaining months of being pregnant, simply as Roe v. Wade did.”
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In a video he posted to Fb in June, he additional defined that his stance on late-term abortion, particularly, had developed. He initially believed that the one cause a lady would get an abortion within the third trimester is that if the being pregnant put her life in danger or the child had a deadly situation. “I don’t assume a bureaucrat or a decide is healthier outfitted than the child’s personal mom to resolve what to do in these circumstances,” he mentioned.
“I had been assuming that nearly all late-term abortions had been such instances, however I’ve realized that my assumption was flawed,” he wrote on X. “Typically, ladies abort wholesome, viable late-term fetuses. These instances of purely ‘elective’ late-term abortion are very upsetting. As soon as the child is viable exterior the womb, it ought to have rights and it deserves society’s safety.”
His place on abortion now
On the Jan. 29 affirmation listening to, Kennedy caught to a unique chorus: “I agree with President Trump that each abortion is a tragedy,” he mentioned a number of instances. “I agree with him that we can’t be an ethical nation if there are 1.2 million abortions a 12 months,” he additionally mentioned. “I agree with him that states ought to management abortion.”
The statements replicate Kennedy’s altering place as he makes an attempt to appease Trump’s conservative anti-abortion supporters.
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Quite a few Democratic senators identified his previous pro-choice place within the listening to. “I’ve by no means seen any main politician flip on that problem fairly as shortly as you probably did when Trump requested you to turn into HHS Secretary,” mentioned Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat from Nevada, requested if a pregnant lady with a life-threatening bleed ought to be capable of get an emergency abortion even when her state bans them. “You’ll agree, additionally as an legal professional, that federal regulation protects her proper to that emergency care. Appropriate?” Kennedy responded after an extended pause, “I don’t know.”
A conflict with conservatives and altering stances
Kennedy’s views on abortion have put him at odds with extra conservative Republicans, who’ve efficiently instituted abortion bans in 13 states. The anti-abortion agenda outlined in Project 2025—from which President Trump has already drawn for a lot of of actions early in his second time period—requires an finish to abortion medicines, which is how most girls within the U.S. get abortions.
Involved that new insurance policies may prohibit or take away that entry, some suppliers have reported spikes in these requests after Trump was elected President in November.
However Kennedy made it clear that on abortion treatment, too, he would defer to Trump to tell his new stance. “President Trump has requested me to check the security of mifepristone,” Kennedy mentioned in the course of the Jan. 29 listening to—although the treatment has already been reviewed and accepted by the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration as protected and efficient. “He has not but taken a stand on the way to regulate it. No matter he does, I’ll implement these insurance policies, and I’ll work with this committee make these insurance policies make sense.”
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