With Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as one of many extra controversial picks for President-elect Donald Trump’s Cupboard, his views on vaccines and abortion rights are elevating alarms throughout the political spectrum.
Allison Robbert/AFP through Getty Photographs
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Allison Robbert/AFP through Getty Photographs
As affirmation hearings start for President-elect Donald Trump’s Cupboard, his nominee to guide the Division of Well being and Human Companies is going through pushback from members of each events.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. started his foray into politics as a Democrat — launching his personal bid for the Democratic Social gathering’s presidential nomination earlier than leaving the social gathering and, later, throwing his assist behind Trump.
Hawaii Gov. Josh Inexperienced, a Democrat, calls Kennedy “harmful.”
Inexperienced, a doctor, was a part of a medical mission to the Pacific island nation of Samoa in response to a measles outbreak in 2019. He says Kennedy bears important duty for spreading misinformation and concern about vaccines throughout his personal go to to Samoa that yr.
“And 83 individuals died in Samoa,” Inexperienced mentioned in an interview with NPR. “We watched it firsthand, and that may occur in America if he turns into the director.”
The Trump staff hasn’t responded to requests for touch upon the controversy or Kennedy’s nomination.
Kennedy denies spreading misinformation, although his criticism of vaccines is well-known.
That is why some Republicans are additionally elevating considerations, together with Sen. Invoice Cassidy of Louisiana.
“I am sufficiently old to recollect when kids could not go to highschool for fairly a while due to measles,” Cassidy informed NewsNation in November, when Kennedy was being floated as a possible choose for the Division of Well being and Human Companies.
Cassidy, who can also be a physician, says he agrees with Kennedy on some objectives, like lowering ultraprocessed meals in American diets, however disagrees along with his vaccine skepticism.
“The older medical doctors informed me that when the measles vaccine got here out, they simply closed complete hospital wards, as a result of now not had been individuals going blind or going deaf due to mumps or measles,” Cassidy mentioned within the NewsNation interview.
Because the chairman of the Senate’s Well being, Schooling, Labor and Pensions Committee, Cassidy is predicted to play a key function in Kennedy’s affirmation course of.
Kennedy has described himself as an advocate for “medical freedom” and “bodily autonomy.”
His software of these views to the problem of abortion has additionally raised considerations from some conservatives, together with former Vice President Mike Pence, who spoke out in opposition to Kennedy’s nomination in an announcement, calling it “deeply regarding.”
On The Sage Steele Present in Might 2024, earlier than he dropped out of the presidential race, Kennedy mentioned he considered each abortion as a “tragedy” however that these selections ought to be left as much as girls, “even when it is full-term.” Kennedy tried to make clear his place on abortion in June of final yr, posting on Fb that he believes there’s an “rising consensus”: “abortion ought to be authorized up till a sure variety of weeks and restricted thereafter.”
Regardless, Kennedy’s expressions of assist for abortion rights are at odds with long-standing Republican opposition to abortion. Trump has repeatedly known as for permitting the problem to be determined by states.
However after latest conferences on Capitol Hill, a number of Republican senators have mentioned Kennedy assured them that he would assist Trump’s place if he is confirmed as secretary of well being and human providers.
Sen. Ted Budd of North Carolina requested Kennedy about his place on abortion once they met not too long ago.
“He has been average on that previously, and now he is gonna align himself, by alternative, with President Trump on pro-life insurance policies,” Budd informed NPR throughout a latest interview on Capitol Hill.
However that is not convincing for some anti-abortion activists, like Brent Leatherwood, president of the Ethics and Non secular Liberty Fee of the Southern Baptist Conference.
“You may should forgive me for remaining a tad skeptical,” he mentioned.
With conservatives answerable for all main branches of presidency, Leatherwood needs the second Trump administration to go additional on abortion than it did final time: for instance, utilizing rules to restrict entry to abortion tablets.
“However to try this, it’s a must to know the executive state and be keen to sort out it.” Leatherwood says. “And I feel you’ll be able to solely try this efficiently on this challenge when you’ve got a deep dedication to the sanctity of life. And he simply hasn’t proven that.”
If confirmed, Kennedy will lead one of many largest federal departments — accountable not just for drugs and vaccines but additionally for businesses that fund medical analysis, present public medical insurance to thousands and thousands of People and oversee the nation’s response to public well being emergencies like pandemics.
