Top highlights from RFK Jr.'s first confirmation hearing: Spiritual battle, divine purpose, missing children
1. Kennedy vows to support policies that are pro-life, protect conscience rights
When questioning Kennedy about his views on abortion, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., noted that the first Trump administration prohibited the “performance, referral for or promotion of abortion as a part of the Title X program,” which provides federal funds for the purpose of family planning. He then outlined how the Biden administration “cut off funding to Oklahoma for AIDS testing, breast cancer screening and other areas of poverty healthcare because my state didn’t promote abortion.”
“If my state wouldn’t promote abortion, we got cut off for federal funds for AIDS testing and for other things,” he lamented.
Lankford then asked Kennedy how he would handle the issue of Title X.
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“I’m going to support President Trump’s policies on Title X,” Kennedy vowed.
Kennedy said he agreed with Trump that “every abortion is a tragedy,” adding that “we cannot be a moral nation if we have 1.2 million abortions a year.”
He also expressed support for Trump’s position that “the states should control abortion” before detailing how the president told him that he wants to work to oppose late-term abortions, support conscience protections for those opposed to abortion and end federal funding of abortions.
“I serve at the pleasure of the president. I’m going to implement his policies,” he said.
When asked if his agency would ensure that healthcare workers "have the right of conscience" not to perform abortions, Kennedy responded by asking, “What patient would want somebody doing a surgery on them who believes that surgery’s against their conscience [and is] being forced to perform that?”
Kennedy added, “I don’t know anybody who would want to have a doctor performing a surgery that the doctor is morally opposed to.”
“Forcing somebody to participate in a medical procedure as a provider that they believe is murder does not make any sense to me,” he continued. “We need to welcome diversity in this country. We need to respect diversity, and we need to respect each other when we have different opinions and not force our opinions on other people.”
Kennedy also assured Lankford that he would ask the agencies under his purview to look into “safety issues” related to abortion pills.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
