Former President Mike Pence is urging Senate Republicans to block Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination as the Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary.
President-elect Donald Trump, Pence’s former running mate, announced Kennedy’s nomination on Thursday, a decision that has raised concerns from public health experts. Kennedy, a former 2024 presidential candidate who went on to back Trump’s campaign, has been incredibly critical of vaccinations, including suggesting that childhood vaccines are linked to autism diagnosis.
Pence, however, took a different issue with Kennedy’s appointment, saying in a statement Friday that making Kennedy the HHS secretary would be “an abrupt departure from the pro-life record” of Trump’s first administration.
“The Trump-Pence administration was unapologetically pro-life for our four years in office,” Pence said, according to a statement published by his Advancing American Freedom PAC.
“I believe the nomination of RFK Jr. to serve as Secretary of HHS is an abrupt department from the pro-life record of our administration and should be deeply concerning to millions of Pro-Life Americans who have supported the Republican Party and our nominees for decades,” Pence added.
Trump reframed his stance on abortion during his 2024 presidential bid. The former president was an integral part of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which ended the federal right to an abortion. During his latest campaign run, however, he pushed back on calls from his fellow Republicans to enact a federal abortion ban if reelected to office. Trump has said that he believes limits on abortion should remain an issue of the states.
Kennedy has said in the past that he does not support enacting a federal abortion ban. While running for president as an independent candidate, he repeatedly said that he supports “a woman’s right to choose” and said that abortion should remain unrestricted until “the baby is viable outside the womb.” His campaign website also stated, “If the courts do not overturn Dobbs v. Jackson and restore abortion rights, he will support legislation to accomplish the same.”
“For the majority of his career, RFK Jr. has defended abortion on demand during all nine months of pregnancy, supports overturning the Dobbs decision and has called for legislation to codify Roe v. Wade,” Pence said on Friday. “If confirmed, RFK Jr. would be the most pro-abortion Republican appointed secretary of HHS in modern history.”
“On behalf of tens of millions of pro-life Americans, I respectfully urge Senate Republicans to reject this nomination and give the American people a leader who will respect the sanctity of life as secretary of Health and Human Services,” the former vice president concluded.
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s transition team via email on Friday for comment.
Questions have been raised over whether some of Trump’s controversial cabinet appointments will have the votes to be confirmed by the Senate, such as Kennedy, Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz as attorney general, and former Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence.
Republicans took control of the upper chamber of Congress after last week’s election, although some have already shown hesitation toward some of Trump’s appointments. Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Trump loyalist, told CNN on Friday that if Senate Republicans choose to block appointments like Kennedy, “they have to deal with Donald Trump and they’ll have to deal with Elon Musk and his great new PAC and the American people.”
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