Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Wednesday he would support policies from President Donald Trump that would restrict abortion, if confirmed as secretary of the HHS.
As HHS head, Kennedy would have broad power over agencies that oversee abortion access in the U.S., including the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates abortion medications like mifepristone, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which collects data on reproductive health.
“I agree with President Trump that every abortion is a tragedy,” Kennedy said during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee. “I agree with him that the states should control abortion.”
His comments are a reversal from past statements, where Kennedy identified as pro-choice. Prior to suspending his U.S. presidential run, Kennedy said on his campaign website he would support legislation to reinstate Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case that gave women the federal right to an abortion.
Trump has enacted broad policies impacting abortion, including an executive order last week restricting federal funding for health programs abroad that promote or provide the procedure. Kennedy also said during Wednesday’s hearing that Trump wants him to further scrutinize the safety of mifepristone, the first medication in a two-drug regimen that can be used to end a pregnancy through 10 weeks gestation.
“I serve at the pleasure of the President. I’m going to implement his policies,” Kennedy said.
Nominated in November to lead the HHS, Trump has promised to let Kennedy “go wild” in healthcare. The Senate is expected to vote to confirm Kennedy next week.
Here are Kennedy’s key comments about abortion from the hearing:
Kennedy expresses uncertainty about emergency care for abortions
Kennedy appeared uncertain Wednesday about a major federal law overseen by the HHS that clarifies emergency care.
The decades-old law, called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA, requires hospitals to provide stabilizing emergency services to patients regardless of their ability to pay.
Those emergency services could include abortion, according to federal guidance issued in July 2022. Compliance with the law, which is overseen by the CMS and the HHS, became contentious after Roe v. Wade was overturned.
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., asked Kennedy whether a woman could receive an abortion in a state where the procedure is banned if she were suffering from life-threatening bleeding due to an incomplete miscarriage.
“You would agree, as an attorney, that federal law protects her right to that emergency care, correct?” Cortez Masto said.
“I don’t know,” Kennedy replied after a pause.
Cortez Masto also questioned what authority Kennedy would have as HHS secretary over EMTALA. Kennedy said he would have “budgetary power, and that it’s pretty limited to that.”
“CMS actually investigates complaints of EMTALA violations, as well as the Health and Human Services Inspector General, who, by the way, was just recently fired by Donald Trump,” Cortez Masto said.
Although federal law mandates abortions be performed in emergencies, the HHS has significant oversight into whether and how the agency penalizes states for complying with the law.
Under the Biden administration, the HHS threatened to sue states that denied emergency abortions after some women reported hospitals violated EMTALA by turning them away or failing to treat them.
The agency ultimately sued Idaho after its near-total abortion ban went into effect, arguing the restriction conflicted with EMTALA’s mandate. The Supreme Court eventually ruled doctors were allowed to perform abortions to stabilize a patient’s life and health, but it sidestepped the broader question about whether EMTALA superseded state abortion bans. The ruling has since created confusion about how state abortion bans and federal law conflict.
Kennedy signals scrutiny of mifepristone safety
The Supreme Court effectively preserved national access to mifepristone when it ruled unanimously that the plaintiffs in a high-profile legal challenge to the drug’s availability lacked standing.
The plaintiffs, led by a group called the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, had sued the FDA and mifepristone manufacturer Danco Laboratories, claiming loosened regulatory requirements had caused harm to doctors who prescribed the drug.
In 2016 and 2023, the FDA relaxed rules surrounding the pill’s use, allowing for prescriptions to be dispensed via mail and permitted use through 10 weeks gestation. The drug has been approved since 2000.
The lawsuit, which was initially filed in 2023, was also seen by some in the biopharmaceutical industry as a threat to the FDA’s role regulating medicines.
Another lawsuit was recently filed in an attempt to limit the drug’s access.
During his confirmation hearing Wednesday, Kennedy indicated the Trump administration could take a closer look at the drug. “Trump has asked me to study the safety of mifepristone,” Kennedy said. “He has not yet taken a stand on how to regulate it. Whatever he does, I will implement those policies.”
In response to a question from Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., Kennedy added, “We need to know what adverse events are, we need to understand the safety of mifepristone and every other drug.” He said he would ask the National Institutes of Health and the FDA to look into safety issues, even though mifepristone’s safety has been well documented through dozens of studies.
“The studies are there, the safety is proved, the science is there,” Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., said during the hearing. “What you’re telling us is, if President Trump orders you to take action to make it harder for women to get direly needed healthcare, you’ll follow his order.”
If confirmed, Kennedy would oversee the FDA and, by extension, have authority over its regulatory policies. While HHS stepping in to overrule the FDA is not common, it has happened in the past.
