RFK Jr’s abortion ‘issue’: Senate GOP plans to scrutinize Trump HHS pick’s position

Senate Republicans are preparing to probe Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on his pro-choice stance after the former presidential candidate was selected by President-elect Trump to be his nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services. 

Kennedy, a former Democrat, has concerned a number of Senate Republicans over his espoused views on abortion. His former presidential campaign reportedly said he believed it “should be left up to the woman and her doctor.” 

Over the summer, Kennedy shared a video on social media, writing in a post, “I support the emerging consensus that abortion should be unrestricted up until a certain point.” 

He suggested that this limit should be “when the baby is viable outside the womb.” Viability is understood to occur around 24 weeks gestation. 

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RFK Jr.’s selection by Trump for HHS is stirring some concerns among Republicans. (Reuters I iStock)

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., a staunch pro-life advocate, told Fox News Digital, “It’ll come up in the hearing 100%. There’s no question that this will be an issue. I will raise it if no one else does.” 

He explained that his office is compiling a list of “all of the things that the first Trump administration did for life through HHS, because they were very active in that area.” 

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Lankford is a pro-life advocate. (Reuters)

Lankford pointed to HHS’ work when it came to conscience protections for abortion and taking on Planned Parenthood as examples. 

“There’s a lot of things that they did during the first Trump administration through HHS. So, we’re compiling that list, and that’ll definitely be my list of questions,” he said. 

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said, “There’s several questions I want to talk to him about.”

He explained he wanted to see exactly what RFK Jr.’s position is — “How far? What month?”

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Tuberville says he plans to ask Kennedy questions. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

HELP committee ranking member Bill Cassidy, R-La., said, “We’ll do our due diligence, but I’m sure somebody will ask that. How could they not?” 

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told Fox News Digital abortion was a concern of his when it comes to RFK Jr.

While several Republicans are wary about Trump’s pick for HHS, some expressed confidence that he would act in line with the administration. 

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“I would fully expect any of Trump’s nominees to be pro-life, as is President Trump,” said Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C.

But, he said, “It does need to be addressed.”

“I believe what he’s going to do is do the right thing,” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said of RFK Jr.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told Fox News Digital “he’ll be asked a question, and we’ll see how he answers. And we’ll take it from there.”

An unoccupied recovery area, left, and an abortion procedure room at a Planned Parenthood Arizona center in Tempe, June 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)

Katie Miller, a Trump-Vance transition spokesperson, told Fox News Digital in a statement, “Mr. Kennedy has every intention of supporting President Trump’s agenda to the fullest extent. This is President Trump’s administration that Robert F. Kennedy has been asked to serve in, and he will carry out the policies Americans overwhelmingly voted for in President Trump’s historic victory.” 

The concerns aired by Senate Republicans come as some conservative and pro-life groups have already sounded the alarm bell on the HHS pick. 

“I believe the nomination of RFK Jr. to serve as secretary of HHS is an abrupt departure from the pro-life record of our administration and should be deeply concerning to millions of pro-life Americans who have supported the Republican Party and our nominees for decades,” former Vice President Mike Pence said in a statement from his organization, Advancing American Freedom, last week.

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The president of top pro-life group Susan B. Anthony Pro Life America, Marjorie Dannenfelser, expressed her own worry, saying in a statement, “There’s no question that we need a pro-life HHS secretary, and, of course, we have concerns about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.”

But she signaled confidence in Trump’s administration to uphold pro-life values. 

“I believe that no matter who is HHS secretary, baseline policies set by President Trump during his first term will be reestablished,” Dannenfelser said.