SOME HARD FEELINGS

Mike Pence’s Nonprofit Defies Trump With Call to Vote Down RFK Jr.

Advancing American Freedom said it opposes the HHS secretary’s nomination due to his stance on abortion.

Former Vice President Mike Pence’s nonprofit organization is asking Republican senators to vote against Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination for Secretary of Health and Human Services, citing his past stances on abortion.

Advancing American Freedom, the policy organization Pence founded in 2023, sent a letter to the Republican caucus asking them to “reject the nomination” of Kennedy, a former Democrat selected by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the federal agency that oversees the FDA and CDC, as well as providing funding for Planned Parenthood.

“As a presidential candidate, RFK Jr. expressed support for abortion on-demand up until birth, a position completely out of step with the strong, pro-life record of the first Trump Administration,” reads the letter signed by Tim Chapman and Marc Short, the organization’s president and chairman respectively.

“While RFK Jr. has made certain overtures to pro-life leaders that he would be mindful of their concerns at HHS, there is little reason for confidence at this time,” they wrote.

Kennedy left the Democratic Party to run as an independent in the 2024 presidential election. He eventually dropped out in August and endorsed Trump, who in turn named him as the nominee for HHS secretary in November.

Kennedy spent much of his campaign advocating for the protection of abortion rights. A policy position published in August 2023 called him a “firm supporter” of the Roe v. Wade decision, which was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2022, and promised to restore the abortion rights the decision protected through legislation.

By July 2024, however, Kennedy seemingly moderated his stance—instead supporting what he called an “emerging consensus” in a video posted on social media.

“Even in the reddest of red states, voters reject total abortion bans,” Kennedy said. “And in blue states, almost no one supports third-trimester abortions except to save the life of the mother. And so I support the emerging consensus that abortion should be unrestricted up until a certain point.”

But Pence has still been sounding the alarm about Kennedy’s stance on abortion since he was announced as a nominee.

“If confirmed, RFK, Jr. would be the most pro-abortion Republican appointed secretary of HHS in modern history,” the former vice president said in a statement in November.

On Wednesday, Pence’s organization called for an HHS leader that has a “firm commitment to protect unborn children,” and said there was a “strong bench of pro-life leaders who are willing to serve the American people as the head of HHS.”

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Zachary FolkFreelance Reporter

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