OAN Staff Blake Wolf
4:38 PM – Wednesday, January 15, 2025
Former Vice President Mike Pence has called on senators to vote against confirming Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary.
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Pence’s conservative advocacy group “Advancing American Freedom” sent a letter to a number of senators involved in Kennedy’s confirmation hearing. He highlighted Kennedy’s previous “pro-abortion” statements when he was still a Democrat, according to The Daily Wire.
“While RFK Jr. has made certain overtures to pro-life leaders that he would be mindful of their concerns at HHS, there is little reason for confidence at this time,” Pence’s organization wrote.
“There are hundreds of decisions made every day at HHS that either lead our nation toward a respect for life or away from it—decisions about federal funding for Planned Parenthood, regulations on the abortion pill (currently accounting for three out of every five abortions), insurance coverage of abortion, and more,” the letter continued.
Pence also previously stated that if confirmed, Kennedy would be “the most pro-abortion Republican appointed secretary of HHS in modern history.”
A while back, during the 2024 campaign cycle, Kennedy initially ran as a Democrat, though he also endorsed a first trimester ban on abortion before quickly backing away from the position, later vowing to protect “a woman’s right to choose” what to do with her body.
However, in December, Kennedy also met with Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), assuring that he would reinstate Trump’s agenda to have states decide independently in regards to abortion, now that he didn’t have Democrats breathing down his neck. Trump has repeatedly mentioned that although he is personally pro-life, he feels that the abortion decision should come down to the states.
“Today I got to sit down with @RobertKennedyJr – we had a substantive discussion about American healthcare & his plans to take on Big Pharma. We also had a good discussion, at length, about prolife policies at HHS,” Hawley wrote in an X post.
“He committed to me to reinstate President Trump’s prolife policies at HHS. That includes reinstating the Mexico City policy & ending taxpayer funding for abortions domestically,” he continued.
“He pledged to reverse the Biden Admin’s Section 1557 rule and also said all of his deputies at HHS would be prolife. He told me he believes there are far too many abortions in the US and that we cannot be the moral leader of the free world with abortion rates so high,” Hawley added.
Kennedy also spoke with Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), who questioned Kennedy regarding his position on abortion.
“I said, ‘Where’s your position? I just gotta know, because you’ve been all over the map on it,’” Mullin stated.
Kennedy responded, stating: “I think there’s too many abortions in the world, let’s just start there. It’s not that I don’t value life, I value life, I just look at it a little bit different in certain circumstances, what we’ve been through as a family.”
“Where does that put you when it comes to pro-life?” Mullin asked, going on to state “He goes: ‘I’m serving at the will of the President of the United States, and it’s his policies that I will put forth. And so we may not agree on every single issue, but we agree 100%, we shouldn’t even be having abortions in this world anyways. But my policies are not what I’m pushing forwards, it’s the president’s, and I think the country knows where the president is on that, and so therefore, that’s my position.’”
“If he’s willing to say that, I have no problems with him becoming Secretary of HHS. And I will support him completely, even as passionate and as pro-life as my wife and my family and I are, I believe Bobby is still the right person for this position,” Mullin added.
Despite Kennedy’s efforts to quell Republican fears surrounding an accused “pro-abortion” HHS, Pence’s organization continues to urge senators to reject Kennedy’s confirmation.
“Whatever the merits of RFK Jr’s Make America Healthy Again initiative—indeed, whatever other qualities a nominee might possess—an HHS Secretary must have a firm commitment to protect unborn children, or else bend under the pressure and pushback surrounding these daily, critical decisions,” the letter continued.
“We strongly encourage you to reject the nomination of any pro-abortion nominees to serve at HHS. RFK Jr., as well as any other nominated HHS Secretary, must be able to provide satisfactory answers to the list of important pro-life questions attached to this letter. The pro-life movement has a strong bench of courageous pro-life leaders who are willing to serve the American people as the head of HHS,” the organization added.
Kennedy has also vowed to “Make America Healthy Again” by taking on America’s “epidemic” of chronic diseases, adding that Americans have been “mass poisoned by big Pharma and big food.”
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