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 Photographs
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Allison Robbert/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
As affirmation hearings start for President-elect Donald Trump’s Cupboard, his nominee to guide the Division of Well being and Human Providers 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 Get together’s presidential nomination earlier than leaving the occasion and, later, throwing his help 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 accountability for spreading misinformation and worry about vaccines throughout his personal go to to Samoa that 12 months.
“And 83 individuals died in Samoa,” Inexperienced stated 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 considerations, 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 instructed NewsNation in November, when Kennedy was being floated as a possible choose for the Division of Well being and Human Providers.
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 docs instructed me that when the measles vaccine got here out, they only closed complete hospital wards, as a result of not had been individuals going blind or going deaf due to mumps or measles,” Cassidy stated within the NewsNation interview.
Because the chairman of the Senate’s Well being, Training, Labor and Pensions Committee, Cassidy is anticipated 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 utility of these views to the difficulty of abortion has additionally raised considerations from some conservatives, together with former Vice President Mike Pence, who spoke out towards 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 stated he considered each abortion as a “tragedy” however that these selections needs to be left as much as ladies, “even when it is full-term.” Kennedy tried to make clear his place on abortion in June of final 12 months, 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 help for abortion rights are at odds with long-standing Republican opposition to abortion. Trump has repeatedly known as for permitting the difficulty to be determined by states.
However after current conferences on Capitol Hill, a number of Republican senators have stated Kennedy assured them that he would help 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 after 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 instructed NPR throughout a current 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 will must forgive me for remaining a tad skeptical,” he stated.
With conservatives in charge of all main branches of presidency, Leatherwood needs the second Trump administration to go additional on abortion than it did final time: for instance, utilizing laws to restrict entry to abortion drugs.
“However to try this, it’s a must to know the executive state and be prepared to sort out it.” Leatherwood says. “And I feel you possibly can solely do this efficiently on this problem 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 medicines and vaccines but additionally for businesses that fund medical analysis, present public medical health insurance to hundreds of thousands of Individuals and oversee the nation’s response to public well being emergencies like pandemics.