Trump’s HHS nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reassures pro-life senators with policy plans

 

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 18, 2024 / 17:50 pm (CNA).

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is reassuring Republican senators that he will back certain pro-life policies if the Senate confirms him to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

In November, U.S. president-elect Donald Trump nominated Kennedy to serve as the United States secretary of the HHS, a position that requires Senate confirmation. HHS oversees 10 agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Kennedy is a former Democrat. He ran for president as an independent in 2024 before dropping out and endorsing Trump.

Although Kennedy has supported legal abortion for his entire public career, he told pro-life senators in closed-door meetings that he would oppose taxpayer funds for abortion domestically and abroad and restore conscience protections.

“Today I got to sit down with [Kennedy] —  we had a substantive discussion about American healthcare … [and] a good discussion, at length, about pro-life policies at HHS,” Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, said in a series of posts on X.

According to Hawley, Kennedy told him that, if confirmed, he would reinstate the Mexico City Policy, which ends federal funding for overseas organizations that promote abortion. Trump reinstated the Mexico City Policy during his first term and said in an October interview with EWTN News that he would consider doing so again in a second term.

Hawley said Kennedy’s plans include “ending taxpayer funding for abortions domestically” and ”reinstating the bar on Title X funds going to organizations that promote abortion.” He said that Kennedy also “pledged to reinstate conscience protections for healthcare providers.”

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a Republican from Alabama, told reporters that he and Kennedy also talked about abortion, saying, “The big thing about abortion is that he’s telling everybody … whatever President Trump [supports], I’m going to back him 100%.”

“Basically, [Kennedy] and President Trump have sat down and talked about it and both of them came to an agreement,” Tuberville said. “Roe v. Wade is gone, [abortion has] gone back to the states. Let the people vote on it.”

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, a Republican from Oklahoma, told reporters that Kennedy told him he “serves the will of the [incoming] president of the United States and he’ll be pushing his policies forward.”

“[Kennedy’s] first thing is [that] we have too many abortions,” Mullin said. “…His follow up to that is [that he is] serving at the will of the president of the United States. …I think that should clear up that question for anyone.”

Sen. Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina, said in a post on X that he also spoke with Kennedy about abortion.

“I had a productive discussion with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. this evening about the future of our nation’s healthcare system, preventing taxpayer-funded abortion, and Americans’ long-term well-being,” Scott said.

During his independent presidential campaign, Kennedy first endorsed abortion in all stages of pregnancy, including late-term abortion. He later retracted that position and said he would back restrictions at the point of fetal viability.

Kennedy also said during his campaign that he would support a “massive subsidized day care initiative” to reduce abortion without limiting legal access.

No word on chemical abortions

Tuberville, however, said that he did not speak with Kennedy about chemical abortions, which are regulated by the FDA. Trump himself has said he will not restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone. Chemical abortions account for about half of all abortions in the country.

The FDA first approved mifepristone to be used in chemical abortions in 2000. Under current law, the drug is approved to abort an unborn child up to 10 weeks’ gestation, at which point the child has a fetal heartbeat, early brain activity, and partially developed eyes, lips, and nostrils.

Mifepristone kills the child by blocking the hormone progesterone, which cuts off the supply of oxygen and nutrients. A second pill, misoprostol, is taken between 24 to 48 hours after mifepristone to induce contractions meant to expel the child’s body from the mother, essentially inducing labor.

Pro-life advocates have been urging the incoming administration to restrict abortion drugs. Many activists have argued that the executive branch could prohibit the delivery of abortion drugs in the mail by enforcing the Comstock Act — a plan that has not been embraced by Trump.