Prominent anti-abortion advocates are concerned that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services, will be too supportive of abortion as the leading public health official in the United States.
“If confirmed, RFK, Jr. would be the most abortion-rights Republican appointed secretary of HHS in modern history,” said former Vice President Mike Pence, who served with Trump during his first term in office.
Pence, a staunch anti-abortion advocate, was a more traditionalist, socially conservative pick for the vice presidency in 2016, balancing out Trump’s populist flare that has since dominated the Republican Party. The two had a significant falling out following the events of Jan. 6, 2021.
Pence said in a statement that Kennedy’s nomination was “an abrupt departure from the pro-life record of our administration” and said the pick “should be deeply concerning to millions of Pro-Life Americans.”
During his independent campaign for president, Kennedy, a Catholic, waffled on his abortion stance, saying “every abortion is a tragedy” while also admitting it is a matter on which “we shouldn’t have the government involved.”
As of this May, Kennedy landed on supporting unrestricted abortion access until fetal viability in tandem with pro-family policies, such as plans to make childcare more affordable.
Federal gestational age limits on abortion could only be enacted through Congress, but the HHS secretary still wields significant power over programs with significant implications for abortion, such as Title X family planning fund allocations for reproductive healthcare for low-income families.
Under the first Trump administration, clinics that received Title X funds could not even mention abortion to their patients as an option for treatment. President Joe Biden reversed these rules, resulting in tensions between his administration and states that passed anti-abortion legislation since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022.
As head of HHS, Kennedy would also have the authority to reinterpret current guidance as to whether state laws that prohibit abortion violate federal law requiring that all doctors provide emergency stabilizing care for pregnant women, even if this means terminating the life of a fetus.
Kennedy’s oversight of the Food and Drug Administration could also mean changes in the regulations over the abortion pill mifepristone, which has been the subject of multiple legal battles since the overturning of Roe, including at the Supreme Court.
Anti-abortion advocates have sued the FDA for its deregulation of mifepristone. This includes the FDA’s decision to raise the acceptable gestational age for use from 8 to 10 weeks of pregnancy and removing in-person screening requirements before obtaining the pill, allowing it to be shipped by mail.
Some abortion opponents expressed guarded optimism about Kennedy, though.
In Kennedy’s lengthy legal career as an environmental lawyer and anti-establishment public health advocate, he has evinced strong skepticism of the corporate influences at the FDA, an agency that he has promised to overhaul.
“I think he might be persuadable about some of the risks we could bring to his attention regarding chemical abortion,” Michael New, a political economy professor at the Catholic University of America and anti-abortion advocate, told the Washington Examiner ahead of Kennedy’s nomination.
The FDA’s warning label on mifepristone estimates that as many as 4.6% of women who self-manage their medication abortions will seek emergency treatment due to severe complications. With about 643,000 medication abortions in the United States in 2023, that equates to approximately 20,000 emergency room visits for chemical abortion patients.
Nevertheless, Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, told the Washington Examiner in an exclusive statement that she was also worried about Kennedy’s appointment.
“There’s no question that we need a pro-life HHS secretary, and of course, we have concerns about Robert F. Kennedy Jr,” said Dannenfelser. “I believe that no matter who is HHS secretary, baseline policies set by President Trump during his first term will be reestablished.”
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New was a bit more optimistic, highlighting that Kennedy did speak with anti-abortion advocates during his presidential campaign and was, at the very least, receptive to dialogue.
“Would I prefer to have somebody who’s committed to pro-life for those slots? Personally, yes. But I do think there would be at least a line of communication between him and the pro-life movement,” said New.