For conservatives fearing an ardent Democrat at the head of Health and Human Services, some good news this Christmas season: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is apparently “open” to restrictions on the abortion pill.
According to a report from Beltway outlet NOTUS, GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri said he had discussed federal restrictions on access to the abortion pill mifepristone — which the left has for pushed for nearly unlimited access to, including shipping across state lines to states where abortions or importing the pill are illegal.
Hawley said that RFK Jr. was “open” to the reimposition of restrictions.
“Hawley, a staunch ally of the anti-abortion movement, said Kennedy’s remarks were made in a private conversation he had with Kennedy on Tuesday,” the outlet reported last Wednesday.
“The potential health secretary has been making the rounds on Capitol Hill, meeting with the senators who will eventually decide whether to confirm him to the role.”
“I signaled my view that it was my hope that he would return to what was the rule under President Trump, which is that mifepristone should have in-person dispensing requirements, and he said that he was open to that,” Hawley said during a media briefing.
“He indicated to me he wanted to support the president’s pro-life agenda.”
The move is a positive signal for Republicans who might be wary of letting a lifelong Democrat — who only endorsed Donald Trump after his own abortive run against Joe Biden and after his skepticism over the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine and its mandates made him a pariah among his own party — head of HHS.
Access to the drug falls under the aegis of the Food and Drug Administration at the federal level, which itself falls under the purview of HHS.
Is there another Democrat humble enough to subjugate their own views to better serve the president and American people?
Yes: 19% (25 Votes)
No: 81% (105 Votes)
In 2016, 2021 and 2023, the FDA relaxed prescribing requirements for mifepristone; the Supreme Court ruled unanimously earlier this year that non-prescribers of the abortion pill lacked standing to sue the government over the relaxation of prescribing requirements.
This means any change would have to come from the administration or an act of Congress — one which would almost certainly be vetoed with a Democrat in the White House.
Given his political leanings — he’s a Kennedy, for heaven’s sake, and one whose political heterodoxy largely hinges on issues of individual medical autonomy, as well as pointing the bleeding obvious fact that Joe Biden is too senile and the Democratic establishment too ossified for another four years of his administration — the mifepristone issue might have caused some consternation among the GOP.
During his presidential run, RFK Jr. said he supported going back to the protections of Roe v. Wade at the federal level, while acknowledging “every abortion is a tragedy.”
In April, he responded to a question about whether he was concerned about the widespread use of pharmaceutical abortions by saying that he was “worried about every pharmaceutical drug” and that he wouldn’t rescind FDA authorization of mifepristone.
Hawley said that during his discussion with RFK Jr., he told the prospective HHS secretary that having the abortion pill “mailed anywhere” is “a huge problem” for pro-life legislators.
RFK Jr., Hawley said, “acknowledged that.”
“He said that he would follow President Trump’s direction on this,” Hawley said during the media briefing.
“I certainly hope that means that they will return mifepristone to the earlier rules and allow the voters to decide on the issue.”
Neither Trump nor RFK Jr. made any comment about the matter. However, Hawley wasn’t the only GOP senator expressing optimism over their conversations with RFK Jr.
Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford, another opponent of relaxing abortion access, said that while he didn’t discuss mifepristone specifically with the nominee, RFK Jr. “was pretty clear that the first Trump administration HHS was a pro-life entity, and it will be again.”
Say what you will about RFK Jr.: Name a single Democrat humble enough to subjugate their own political views to better serve the president and American people.
You might be able to come up with one after a while — the first name I came up with was Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, not just because we share surnames but because he’s also one of the few blue lawmakers left in a deep-red district — but one prominent enough to choose for a cabinet position in the Trump administration with anything but secret glee that they’d be able to subvert the president-elect’s agenda would be very difficult to find, indeed.
Instead, you have RFK Jr. saying he’d follow through on the president’s pro-life agenda, something that’s bound to make the left even more furious with him than they already are.
Whatever the case, considering the willy-nilly loosening of requirements of mifepristone — a drug literally meant to cause death and which isn’t as safe for the mother as the media makes it out to be, either — this is welcome news for conservatives who might be waffling about a Kennedy at the helm of HHS with a Republican in the Oval Office.
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