Senate Republicans are getting ready to probe Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on his pro-choice stance after the previous presidential candidate was chosen by President-elect Trump to be his nominee to move the Division of Well being and Human Companies.
Kennedy, a former Democrat, has involved a lot of Senate Republicans over his espoused views on abortion. His former presidential marketing campaign reportedly stated he believed it “should be left up to the woman and her doctor.”
Over the summer season, Kennedy shared a video on social media, writing in a submit, “I support the emerging consensus that abortion should be unrestricted up until a certain point.”
He instructed that this restrict needs to be “when the baby is viable outside the womb.” Viability is known to happen round 24 weeks gestation.
RFK Jr.’s choice by Trump for HHS is stirring some issues amongst Republicans. (Reuters I iStock)
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., a staunch pro-life advocate, instructed Fox Information 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 defined that his workplace is compiling a listing 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 got here to conscience protections for abortion and taking up Deliberate 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 stated.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., a member of the Senate Committee on Well being, Training, Labor and Pensions, stated, “There’s several questions I want to talk to him about.”
He defined he needed to see precisely what RFK Jr.’s place is — “How far? What month?”
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Tuberville says he plans to ask Kennedy questions. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Photos)
HELP committee rating member Invoice Cassidy, R-La., stated, “We’ll do our due diligence, but I’m sure somebody will ask that. How could they not?”
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., instructed Fox Information Digital abortion was a priority of his in relation to RFK Jr.
Whereas a number of Republicans are cautious about Trump’s decide for HHS, some expressed confidence that he would act in keeping with the administration.
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“I would fully expect any of Trump’s nominees to be pro-life, as is President Trump,” stated Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C.
However, he stated, “It does need to be addressed.”
“I believe what he’s going to do is do the right thing,” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., stated of RFK Jr.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., instructed Fox Information Digital “he’ll be asked a question, and we’ll see how he answers. And we’ll take it from there.”
An unoccupied restoration space, left, and an abortion process room at a Deliberate Parenthood Arizona heart in Tempe, Ariz., June 30, 2022. (AP Photograph/Matt York, File)
Katie Miller, a Trump-Vance transition spokesperson, instructed Fox Information Digital in an announcement, “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 issues aired by Senate Republicans come as some conservative and pro-life teams have already sounded the alarm bell on the HHS decide.
“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 stated in an announcement from his group, Advancing American Freedom, final week.
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The president of prime pro-life group Susan B. Anthony Professional Life America, Marjorie Dannenfelser, expressed her personal fear, saying in an announcement, “There’s no question that we need a pro-life HHS secretary, and, of course, we have concerns about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.”
However 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 stated.
