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 by way of Getty Pictures
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Allison Robbert/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
As affirmation hearings start for President-elect Donald Trump’s Cupboard, his nominee to guide the Division of Well being and Human Providers is dealing with 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 Occasion’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 vital duty for spreading misinformation and worry about vaccines throughout his personal go to to Samoa that yr.
“And 83 folks died in Samoa,” Inexperienced mentioned in an interview with NPR. “We watched it firsthand, and that can 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 issues, together with Sen. Invoice Cassidy of Louisiana.
“I am sufficiently old to recollect when youngsters 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 decide for the Division of Well being and Human Providers.
Cassidy, who can also be a physician, says he agrees with Kennedy on some targets, like decreasing ultraprocessed meals in American diets, however disagrees together with his vaccine skepticism.
“The older docs informed me that when the measles vaccine got here out, they simply closed complete hospital wards, as a result of not have been folks 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 position 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 issues from some conservatives, together with former Vice President Mike Pence, who spoke out in opposition to Kennedy’s nomination in a press release, calling it “deeply regarding.”
On The Sage Steele Present in Could 2024, earlier than he dropped out of the presidential race, Kennedy mentioned he seen each abortion as a “tragedy” however that these choices needs 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 needs 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 referred to 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 lately.
“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 Spiritual Liberty Fee of the Southern Baptist Conference.
“You may must forgive me for remaining a tad skeptical,” he mentioned.
With conservatives in charge of all main branches of presidency, Leatherwood desires 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 do this, it’s a must to know the executive state and be keen to deal with it.” Leatherwood says. “And I feel you possibly can solely try this efficiently on this subject in case you have 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 in addition for companies that fund medical analysis, present public medical health insurance to thousands and thousands of People and oversee the nation’s response to public well being emergencies like pandemics.