There is some welcomed news for Health and Human Services secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is in limbo headed into a key test vote on Tuesday.
Anti-abortion groups are cautiously optimistic about Kennedy’s stance on the matter after he pledged during contentious confirmation hearings to support the Trump administration’s anti-abortion policies, a U-turn from his previous posture as a Democratic abortion-rights advocate.
Winning over the tepid approval from anti-abortion advocates presents one less hurdle for the controversial Cabinet choice, who has struggled to secure enough Republican support over his vaccine skepticism.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, a leading anti-abortion group, stopped short of endorsing Kennedy and will not hold it against any Republicans who may oppose him but was “encouraged” by Kennedy’s abortion answers.
“When Kennedy was first nominated, we immediately voiced concern and the need for assurances given his previous positions on abortion,” Susan B. Anthony President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement. “It is important that President Trump, Kennedy, and the GOP Senate took these concerns seriously and that public commitments were made. We will not score Kennedy’s nomination in committee or on the Senate floor.”
Students for Life America President Kristan Hawkins called a range of pledges Kennedy made to senators a “step in the direction,” including that he would appoint anti-abortion HHS officials, cease fetal stem cell research, end late-term abortions, investigate the safety of long-standing abortion pills, strengthen abortion exemptions for anti-abortion doctors, and his denouncement of abortions as a “tragedy.”
“There was a lot to appreciate in RFK Jr.’s testimony,” Hawkins said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “A highlight of RFK Jr.’s very intense conversations with members of the U.S. Senate was the fact that he and President Trump see abortion as a tragedy and that they are looking at the real and deadly impacts of the abuse of agency power to force chemical abortion pills on the market.”
The cautious embrace from abortion opponents comes as the Senate Finance Committee will vote on Tuesday to advance Kennedy’s nomination to the full chamber. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who remains a holdout over Kennedy’s views on vaccines, holds the power to derail the nominee.
Cassidy and Kennedy spoke again on Sunday, according to a source familiar with the matter, after the two clashed publicly over vaccines at last week’s hearings. Cassidy declined to answer questions from reporters at the Capitol Monday evening but described his discussion with Kennedy as “cordial.”
Other Republicans who Kennedy may need in order to be confirmed but who have expressed similar concerns about his vaccine skepticism include Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).
In his hearings, Kennedy condemned “every abortion” as “a tragedy,” said the United States “cannot be a moral nation if we have 1.2 million abortions a year,” and agreed with President Donald Trump that “the states should control abortion.”
“I serve at the pleasure of the president,” Kennedy said. “I’m going to implement his policies.”
Americans United for Life CEO John Mize said Kennedy offered “clear signals that the pro-life movement can work” with Kennedy at the helm of HHS and that the nominee “acknowledging that every abortion is a tragedy left my team applauding.”
However, not all anti-abortion advocates are in agreement.
Advancing American Freedom, the nonprofit policy group founded by former Vice President Mike Pence, is still urging senators to oppose Kennedy over his past abortion views and said the confirmation hearings “raised more questions about RFK Jr.’s ability to lead HHS.” In its latest anti-Kennedy ad that it launched Tuesday morning and was first reported by the Washington Examiner, AAF used footage of Trump from the campaign trail whacking Kennedy as a “Democrat plant” to urge Republicans to oppose the nominee.
“The American people deserve an HHS secretary with a firm commitment to protecting life, who doesn’t fall for or promote health-related misinformation,” the group said last week as it unveiled another anti-Kennedy ad.
During one of the two hearings, Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) highlighted Kennedy’s abortion-rights stances during his 2024 presidential campaign to accuse the HHS nominee of selling out a lifelong belief in exchange for power.
“It is remarkable that you have such a long record of fighting for women’s reproductive freedom, and really great that my Republican colleagues are so open to voting for a pro-choice HHS secretary,” Hassan said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a Trump confidant, sought to offer anti-abortion advocates additional last-minute reassurance that Kennedy would be an ally.
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“I am now OK supporting RFK Jr. because I think during the course of the hearing, he’s committed to a Republican pro-life agenda, President Trump’s pro-life agenda, Mexico City policy dealing with chemical abortions,” Graham said on Fox News Sunday.
“I will take him at his word,” he continued. “I’m comfortable with what he said on the pro-life issue. He has been radically pro-choice as a person. But I do believe that, as secretary, he will implement a pro-life agenda that will be pushed by President Trump.”
