President-elect Donald Trump nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Nov. 14 to head the Department of Health and Human Services.
The nomination has been complicated for many health experts who say RFK Jr. gets some stuff right, while also promoting a number of medical conspiracies, including that vaccines cause autism, Wi-Fi causes cancer, and antidepressants were behind school shootings.
Opponents of the nomination were joined on Friday by an unlikely figure: former Indiana Governor and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence.
Pence’s opposition to RFK Jr. had nothing to do with the nominee's stance on many health issues that have already been raised by detractors.
Instead, Pence zeroed in on RFK Jr’s position on abortion.
In a statement, Pence urged senate Republicans not to approve Trump’s nominee, who he claimed would be “the most pro-abortion Republican appointed secretary of HHS in modern history.”
The statement was released through Pence’s political group, Advancing American Freedom.
During his run for president this year, RFK Jr. affirmed his support for a woman’s right to choose, and supported codifying Roe. V Wade and ensuring access to medical abortion pills.
Pence said the nomination should be “deeply concerning” to the millions of “pro-life Americans” who have supported the Republican party for decades.
“The pro-life movement has always looked to the Republican party to stand for life, to affirm an unborn child has a fundamental right to life that cannot be infringed,” Pence wrote.
RFK Jr., like many of Trump’s nominees, could have a difficult path to his confirmation in the Senate.
Contact Health Reporter Benjamin Thorp at bthorp@wfyi.org.
Side Effects Public Media is a health reporting collaboration based at WFYI in Indianapolis. We partner with NPR stations across the Midwest and surrounding areas — including KBIA and KCUR in Missouri, Iowa Public Radio, Ideastream in Ohio and WFPL in Kentucky, WGLT in Illinois and KOSU in Oklahoma.
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