OAN’s Brooke Mallory
5:55 PM – Thursday, May 9, 2024
The latest response regarding abortion policy from Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.) reportedly astonished his female running partner.
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RFK Jr. stated in an interview that was made public on Wednesday that he would permit women to have abortions at full term if that was their personal decision.
At 39 weeks, you are in month nine of a pregnancy, with only a week or two left to go,” according to whattoexpect.com. This is referred to as a “full term.”
Meanwhile, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund declared that the term “late-term abortion” is “made-up” anti-abortion propaganda.
Planned Parenthood stated: “Opponents of abortion use language to shame people who have abortions—to make them feel as if their decision is wrong or immoral. Take, for example, the made-up phrase “late-term abortion.” There is no such thing as a late-term abortion. It has no basis in medicine and is pure anti-abortion propaganda, crafted to confuse people about when abortion happens.”
In an interview, podcaster Sage Steele, a former ESPN host, questioned Kennedy about what the appropriate limit should be for women to have an abortion.
“Should there be a limit, or are you saying all the way up to full term, a woman has a right to have an abortion?” Steele asked.
RFK Jr. responded by saying that although he does not believe “anyone would want to have an abortion” at that lengthy point, women should still have the right to choose.
RFK Jr. reaffirmed that the “woman should always make the decision” rather than the states, as Steele persisted in pressuring him to say if he agreed with the Roe v. Wade standard.
“Even if it’s full-term,” RFK Jr. boldly said in response to a follow-up question.
“I think we have to leave it to the women rather than the state.”
However, RFK Jr.’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, seemed taken aback by the remarks. Shanahan was a guest on Steele’s podcast one week before RFK Jr.’s interview with her was made public. Shanahan acted surprise when Steele questioned if she agreed with Kennedy’s viewpoint that a woman should be able to choose to have an abortion up until full term.
“My understanding with Bobby’s position is that, you know, every abortion is a tragedy, is a loss of life,” Shanahan said. “My understanding is that he absolutely believes in limits on abortion, and we’ve talked about this. I do not think… I don’t know where that came from.”
“That is not my understanding of his position, and I think maybe there was a miscommunication there,” Shanahan continued.
She later posted on X (Twitter) in order to explain her own personal viewpoint on the topic.
Throughout his presidential campaign, RFK Jr. has occasionally taken contrasting positions on abortion. RFK Jr. previously stated that, if elected, he would favor enacting a national ban on abortions after the first three months of pregnancy in an August interview last year with NBC News.
However, his team quickly recanted the statement.
“I believe a decision to abort a child should be up to the women during the first three months of life,” RFK Jr. said previously to NBC News.
RFK Jr.’s team then quickly released a statement claiming that the candidate “misunderstood” inquiries concerning the subject.
“Mr. Kennedy misunderstood a question posed to him by an NBC reporter in a crowded, noisy exhibit hall at the Iowa State Fair,” a spokesperson said.
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