Pro-lifers optimistic after RFK Jr. confirmed as Health secretary

Pro-life advocacy groups are saying they see Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as a man who changed his mind. The newly confirmed secretary of health and human services has apparently shifted to align with President Donald Trump’s pro-life agenda during his Senate confirmation hearings after openly supporting abortion policies for most of his public life.

The Senate confirmed Kennedy to the office of HHS secretary by a 52-48 vote late Thursday morning after Democrat senators filibustered into the night to oppose the confirmation of the Democrat and former independent candidate for president. Now, pro-life advocates are expressing optimism about the future of their cause under his leadership.

“During the election, only one presidential candidate—RFK Jr.—said that he had changed his mind to be more pro-life after learning more,” Kristi Hamrick, vice president of media and policy at Students for Life Action, told The Daily Signal. “That was refreshing and a good indication that we can have a real conversation about the policy that he will handle.”

As health and human services secretary, Kennedy will play a significant role in implementing pro-life and abortion policy, including banning or restricting abortion pills and eliminating President Joe Biden’s executive orders that expanded abortion access.

There is no objective reason to doubt that Kennedy will honor Trump’s pro-life policies as he indicated during his Senate confirmation hearings, founder and CEO of 40 Days for Life Shawn Carney said.

“RFK Jr. has proven himself to be a political rebel against the radical extremism of his own party,” Carney told The Daily Signal, referring to Kennedy leaving the Democratic Party in 2023. “Given his willingness to challenge the status quo, we fully expect him to implement a pro-life agenda as he has publicly stated.”

Trump has shown support for the pro-life movement during his first weeks in his second term in office, including by pardoning pro-life Americans jailed under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, issuing a statement of administration policy supporting the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, and issuing an executive order directing all federal agencies to comply with the Hyde Amendment, which blocks taxpayer funding of abortion on demand.

March for Life President Jennie Bradley Lichter said she believes Kennedy will stand by Trump, referencing the president’s video message to the March for Life in January, in which he promised to stand for life.

“We trust that RFK, as he has promised and like all Cabinet secretaries must, will faithfully implement President Trump’s agenda,” Lichter told The Daily Signal.

Kennedy will have to repeal many of Biden’s abortion-promoting regulations, according to Melanie Israel, a visiting fellow at The Heritage Foundation’s DeVos Center for Life, Religion, and Family.

“I think for the pro-life movement, it’s important to point out how much damage the Biden administration [Food and Drug Administration] did,” Israel said. “They are the ones that put a stamp of approval on things like telemedicine and abortion pills.”

The groups unanimously agreed that Kennedy’s first actions should include addressing the lack of regulation on chemical abortion pills. Several indicated they believe they can work with Kennedy to address chemical abortion.

“Chemical abortion pills kill, usually an infant in the womb, sometimes the women who take them, and now perhaps, even the environment,” Students for Life Action President Kristan Hawkins said. “The Biden-Harris administration allowed chemically tainted blood, placenta tissue, and human remains from the vast majority of abortions to be flushed into our drinking water. The FDA and [the Environmental Protection Agency] have refused to look into the impact of these endocrine disrupters on our clean water and the people, plants, and animals that depend on it.”

Shield laws that allow shipping abortion pills across state lines are muting the success of overturning Roe v. Wade, according to Israel. She referenced charges recently brought against New York doctor Margaret Carpenter for providing abortion pills across state lines to a teenage girl in Louisiana.

“The bottom line is, overturning Roe was a huge victory,” Israel said. “But if we don’t address this issue of abortion pills, we’re not going to save as many lives as we could otherwise.”

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser initially voiced concern about Kennedy’s nomination in an interview with Politico. In a press release following the confirmation hearings, she said she was encouraged by his responses on key pro-life priorities.

“Most specifically, he pledged to carry out President Trump’s directives to end taxpayer funding of abortion at home and abroad,” Dannenfelser said. “This means reimplementing the Protect Life Rule, which stops taxpayer funding of abortion businesses such as Planned Parenthood under Title X.”

Title X is a part of federal law that allows for the taxpayer funding of family planning and related preventive health services. Organizations receive grants from the federal government to provide such services for free to individuals. While Title X does not fund abortions, Planned Parenthood receives millions in this funding to provide contraceptives and other family planning.

Dannenfelser also said she agreed with Kennedy’s remarks during his hearings that “every abortion is a tragedy” and “we cannot be a moral nation if we have 1.2 million abortions a year.”

CatholicVote Vice President Josh Mercer applauded Kennedy’s recent pro-life commitments and his vision for the Department of Health and Human Services.

“Kennedy has stated that his mission is improving the nutrition and health of our children. We share this goal as well,” he said. “A mission to make America healthy again works great alongside President Trump’s pro-life policies.”

March for Life’s Lichter urged Kennedy to follow through on his promises to promote the pro-life cause as HHS secretary: “If RFK … fails to drive forward the president’s pro-life agenda, ours will be among the voices holding him to account.”

[Editor’s note: This story originally was published by The Daily Signal.]