Anti-abortion groups were nervous when President Donald Trump tapped former Democrat and onetime abortion-rights supporter Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to run the nation’s health agencies.
After two days of hearings, many now feel confident he will carry out their agenda.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America said Thursday the group will not score Kennedy’s confirmation vote — either at the committee or floor level. And its leaders said they are “encouraged” by promises Kennedy made to hire anti-abortion staff at HHS, scrutinize regulations around abortion pills, halt support for medical research using fetal tissue and cut funding to organizations that provide or refer for the procedure.
“When Kennedy was first nominated, we immediately voiced concern and the need for assurances given his previous positions on abortion,” the group’s President Marjorie Dannenfelser said. “It is important that President Trump, Kennedy, and the GOP Senate took these concerns seriously and that public commitments were made.”
Democratic senators’ attempt to sway their GOP colleagues against Kennedy by citing his past comments supporting abortion access and opposing government restrictions on it does not appear to have been successful.
Another anti-abortion group, the Human Coalition, said after the Thursday Senate HELP hearing that they are “ready to work” with Kennedy “to protect innocent children in the womb.”
One conservative group — Advancing American Freedom, which was co-founded by former Vice President Mike Pence — is urging senators to vote no on Kennedy over his abortion record.
