PIt was difficult to connect Ober P. Kennedy Junior, President Trump choosing to lead the US Department of Health and Humanitarian Services (HHS) with one position on miscarriage. For most of his career, support – in a flagrant contradiction with the views of many prominent figures in the current administration.
But in a confirmation session on the Senate on January 29, Kennedy explained his position on miscarriage. “I am working with the president. I will implement his policies.”
Here is what to know about Kennedy’s past and current position on abortion.
What Kennedy said in the past about abortion
Kennedy, a former democracy, has long called for the reproductive rights of women and supported the right of women to choose whether she had aborted or not. As a presidential candidate In May 2024Kennedy described all abortion as a “tragedy”, but he said that the decision should be left to women, and to go to the extent that this freedom of choice should extend to full -term pregnancy.
Soon after a long time After xHe explained his statement, but he continued to support abortion. “I support the emerging consensus that abortion should be unrestricted up to a certain point. I think this point should be when the child is applicable outside the womb. So I would like to allow appropriate restrictions on miscarriage in the last months of pregnancy, just as Roe did v.
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in video He was posted on Facebook in June, and also made it clear that his position on abortion in a later, in particular, has evolved. I initially believed that the only reason that causes a woman to get a miscarriage in the third trimester of pregnancy is if the pregnancy is at risk of her life or the child suffers from a fatal condition. “I do not think that the bureaucratic or the judge is better equipped with the child’s mother to determine what to do in these circumstances,” he said.
“I assumed that all the abortion operations late were such cases, but I learned that the default was a mistake,” he wrote on X. Optional “optional” abortion at a late period of time is very annoying.
His position on abortion now
In the confirmation session, Kennedy held a different abstinence: “I agree with President Trump that every abortion is a tragedy,” he said several times. He also said, “I agree with him that we cannot be an ethical nation if there is 1.2 million miscarriages per year. I agree that states should control abortion.”
The Kennedy’s variable statements reflect as he tries to satisfy Trump’s conservative supporters to combat abortion.
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Several Democratic Senate members have referred to his former position in support of the selection in the session. “I have never seen any major politician who turned on this issue as soon as I did when Trump asked you to become the HHS secretary,” said Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont.
Senator Catherine Cortez Memasto, a democratic of Nevada, asked whether a life -threatening pregnant woman is able to get an emergency abortion even if her mandate is prohibited. “Do you also agree as a lawyer, that federal law protects its right to care for this emergency. Right?” Kennedy replied after a long stop, “I don’t know.”
Clash with conservatives and change situations
Kennedy’s views of abortion put him in dispute with more conservative Republicans, who have succeeded in establishing a ban on miscarriage in 13 states. The Anti -miscarriage agenda has been determined in Project 2025– Who is President Trump has already drew For many procedures early in his second term – fades to end medications, which most women in the United States get abortions.
Anxiety that new policies can restrict or remove this access, some service providers The nails are reported In these requests after Trump was elected a president in November.
But Kennedy explained that when abortion medications, he will also postpone Trump to inform his new position. “President Trump asked me to study the safety of Mevibeston,” Kennedy said during the session. “He has not yet taken a position on how to organize it. Whatever he does, I will implement these policies, and I will work with this committee that makes these policies logical.”
