Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been tapped to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), could see his abortion stance backfire in Senate confirmation hearings, according to conservative pundit Scott Jennings.
Kennedy endorsed President-elect Donald Trump after suspending his independent presidential campaign in August, while promising that he would help Trump “make America healthy again.” Trump on Thursday named Kennedy as his pick for HHS secretary.
The nomination immediately sparked controversy, mostly over Kennedy potentially overseeing the national health infrastructure despite his long history of anti-vaccine activism and other questionable positions on health and medicine.
Jennings, ex-adviser to former President George W. Bush, said during a CNN appearance on Thursday night that Kennedy would likely be grilled on his vaccine stance but could also expect to come under fire from Senate “pro-lifers” who do not approve of his support for abortion rights.
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“I’m certain the vaccine stuff will be the biggest flashpoint in the hearings,” Jennings said. “He’ll have a chance to answer for those statements and the senators are gonna have to decide whether that’s satisfactory to them or not.”
“One other political issue: I think the pro-lifers are a little weird on this right now,” he continued. “If I were the Trump people, I would be coming up with something proactive to head that off, because I do think those attacks are coming.”
Newsweek reached out for comment to Trump’s office via email on Thursday night.
While it is far from clear that Kennedy is at risk of being blocked from confirmation in the Senate, which will have a 53 to 47 Republican majority in January, some conservatives have indicated that his position on abortion could pose a problem.
Philip Klein, editor of National Review Online—the digital version of conservative magazine National Review, argued that the appointment of “pro-abortion RFK Jr.” would be “a monumental disaster” in an article published on Thursday.
Klein urged Republican senators to “do their job” by rejecting both Matt Gaetz—whom Trump nominated as the next U.S. attorney general despite investigations over alleged sexual misconduct and illegal drug use—and Kennedy because he said that he supported “full-term abortion” earlier this year.
In a May interview, Kennedy told podcaster Sage Steele that he was in favor of abortion rights “even if it’s full-term,” arguing that the decision should be that of “the women rather than the state.”
Kennedy backpedaled one week later, saying in a statement shared on social media that he believes “abortion should be unrestricted” only until “the baby is viable outside the womb.”
In addition to irking conservatives for favoring abortion rights, Kennedy has also provoked criticism from the political left over sometimes expressing support for restrictions on abortion.
Late last month, after Trump pledged to allow Kennedy to “work on” women’s health issues, the presidential campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris shared a video showing Kennedy expressing support for a national three-month abortion ban in a post to X, formerly Twitter.
Kennedy’s abortion ban remark, delivered during a brief NBC News interview in August 2023, was quickly walked back, with the then-Democratic presidential candidate’s campaign saying that he “misunderstood” the question.