Washington D.C., Jan 29, 2025 / 17:05 pm (CNA).
During his first confirmation hearing, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stated at several points that he would implement President Donald Trump’s pro-life policies.
Republican and Democrat senators on the Senate Finance Committee pressed Kennedy on his views on abortion and “reproductive health,” asking him how he would approach the issue of life while carrying out his duties as head of HHS.
In the three-hour hearing, Kennedy fielded questions on his interpretation of Title X, late-term abortions, mifepristone, stem cell research, and medical conscience rights.
“I’m going to support President Trump’s policies on Title X,” Kennedy said in his first exchange regarding abortion with Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma.
“I agree with President Trump that every abortion is a tragedy,” Kennedy stated. “I agree with him that we cannot be a moral nation if we have 1.2 million abortions per year, I agree with him that the states should control abortion.”
“I’m going to serve at the pleasure of the president,” he continued. “I’m going to implement his policies,” he said, revealing that Trump had expressed his desire for Kennedy to end late-term abortions, enact protections for conscious exemptions, and end federal funding for abortions in the U.S. and abroad.
On medical conscience exemptions, Kennedy said: “What patient would want somebody doing a surgery on them that, you know, believes that that surgery is against their conscience and is being forced to perform that? I don’t know anybody who would want to have a doctor perform a surgery that the doctor is morally opposed to.”
“Forcing somebody to participate in a medical procedure as a provider that they believe is murder does not make any sense to me,” he continued, adding: “We need to welcome diversity in this country, we need to respect diversity, and we need to respect each other when we have different opinions and not, you know, not force our opinions on other people.”
Kennedy also answered questions on his views regarding chemical abortions, stating that his approach to the drug would mirror that of Trump, who, he noted, has yet to adopt an official position on whether he supports the use of chemical abortion drugs such as mifepristone. The HHS nominee did, however, criticize the Biden administration for deregulating the abortion drug and for ending reporting requirements.
Mifepristone is a drug used to induce a chemical abortion by blocking the hormone progesterone, which cuts off the child’s supply of oxygen and nutrients. The Food and Drug Administration’s label estimates that about 1 in 25 women who take mifepristone “will visit the emergency room.”
“It should be reported; I mean, it’s against everything we believe in in this country, that patients or doctors should not be reporting adverse events,” Kennedy said, adding: “I think it’s immoral to have a policy where patients are not allowed to report adverse events or doctors are discouraged from doing that.”
Several members of the committee questioned Kennedy on his past pro-abortion views, including Democrat Sen. Maggie Hassan, who quoted Kennedy as saying: “I don’t think the government has any business telling people what they can or cannot do with their body” during a campaign visit to New Hampshire in 2023.
Kennedy responded simply: “I agree with President Trump — every abortion is a tragedy.”
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington, questioned Kennedy about his support for stem cell research at the University of Washington, which the senator said had conducted “groundbreaking” research using fetal heart tissue.
Kennedy responded by saying: “I will protect stem cell research, and today stem cell research can be done on umbilical cords.”
“You don’t need fetal tissue,” he said.
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. Kennedy is set to have another hearing tomorrow before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
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HELP. WOKE CATHOLIC HOSPITAL IS KILLING MY MOTHER
1. Right now, a doctor at a supposedly Catholic hospital is slowing killing my 90-year-old mother by withholding from her the IV glucose that she needs to stay alive.
2. My mother has not consented to having food and nutrition withdrawn from her. She has no terminal diagnosis.
3. My mother has been deemed competent to make her own medical decisions.
4. Nevertheless, this doctor has, for the week now that she’s been in this hospital, been withholding IV glucose without her consent.
5. The hospital brings her 3 trays of food every day. But due to the treatments for her infection and heart irregularity (Afib), she has no appetite and so she eats about 1 spoonful of food per day.
6. Consequently, since he has been in the hospital, she has grown weaker and weaker.
7. I’ve been begging the doctor and nurses to give IV glucose to my mother. To no avail.
8. I’ve been begging this Catholic hospital’s administration to assign to me mom a different doctor who will follow Catholic pro-life ethics. To no avail.
9. Today, I had a meeting with the hospital’s Ethics Director and a Catholic Chaplain (a layman). I told them my mother’s doctor is acting contrary to Catholic healthcare ethics, and that my mother’s doctor is also lying when giving certain status information to my mother and to me about the health of my mother. The hospital’s Ethics Director and a Catholic Chaplain (both appeared to be flamboyantly gay men) both told me that my mother’s doctor was acting within Catholic healthcare ethics. I told them that I couldn’t believe the woke ideology that his Catholic hospital uses as Catholic healthcare ethics.
10. Shortly after this meeting I was banned from and escorted out of the hospital. I was told that my speech had violated their No-Violence Policy because my words were “threatening” to hospital staff members. I asked if they could give me an example of something specific that was threatening to a hospital staff member. They could not give me even one example. They just said that I had made staff “uncomfortable.” I assume that using the term “woke” to apply to the Ethics Director and Catholic Lay Chaplain is what they meant by “threatening.” I’m sure being called “woke” did make these two gay men uncomfortable and nervous. (I never made any reference to their apparent homosexuality.)
11. Recall that last year a FEMA supervisor directed FEMA emergency workers to not approach homes with Trump flags since in the view of this FEMA supervisor the presence of a Trump flag meant that such a residence would not be safe for FEMA workers.
12. I contacted my parish priest and the Pro-Life Office of the diocese. Both said they could not intervene with this Catholic hospital on my mother’s behalf. I was shocked at this.
13. My mother was a healthy, happy, active, alert, personable, caring 90-year-old lady who lived at home before going to this hospital for an infection.
14. My mother might die any day now.
15. This of course is Pope Francis’ aggressive WokeChurch in action. I had no idea how far the Church’s institutions had fallen into perversity, depravity, decadence, sheer sinfulness, and utter darkness. But I don’t have time to worry about that now. I must save my mother.
16. I tried to find a lawyer this afternoon. I’ll try again tomorrow. But I don’t have faith that a lawyer can save my mother. There’s so little time. Legal cases move slowly. I think this evil “Catholic” hospital is going to get away with killing my mother.
17. What would you do in this case?
Retain an attorney ASAP.
Why should we believe him now?
I don’t understand every single thing about RFK Jr. but he does seem like a breath of fresh air.