Former Vice President Mike Pence urged Republican senators to reject President-elect Donald Trump's nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) because of Kennedy's abortion views.
Trump, who defeated Vice President Kamala Harris last week in the presidential election, on Thursday selected Kennedy, an environmental activist, to lead the country's top health agency.
Pence, who served as vice president during Trump's first administration, called on senators to reject Kennedy and approve an HHS secretary "who will respect the sanctity of life."
"The Trump-Pence administration was unapologetically pro-life for our four years in office. There are hundreds of decisions made at HHS every day that either lead our nation toward a respect for life or away from it, and HHS under our administration always stood for life," Pence said in a statement released by his conservative nonprofit Advancing American Freedom.
"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."
Pence said Kennedy has "defended abortion on demand during all nine months of pregnancy, supports overturning the Dobbs decision and has called for legislation to codify Roe v Wade."
"If confirmed, RFK, Jr. would be the most pro-abortion Republican appointed secretary of HHS in modern history," Pence said. "The pro-life movement has always looked to the Republican party to stand for life, to affirm an unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed."
Kennedy has been inconsistent on his abortion position, The Hill reported.
He endorsed a ban on abortion after the first trimester when he began his presidential campaign as a Democrat, then quickly backtracked. He also suggested he opposed banning abortion before fetal viability, generally about 24 weeks into a pregnancy.
On his Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) website, Kennedy says, "I support the emerging consensus that abortion should be unrestricted up until a certain point."
He does not specify the definition of "a certain point."
Trump has said he does not support a federal abortion ban, but three justices he nominated to the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade in June 2022 and return the issue to the states.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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