WASHINGTON (OSV News) -- President-elect Donald Trump named Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Nov. 14 as his pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services, potentially setting up a contentious confirmation battle for the vaccine critic and abortion proponent.
The nomination of Kennedy, who broke from his storied Democratic political family to run for president as an independent before suspending his bid to endorse Trump, will be controversial, in part due to his claims that vaccines are linked to autism, which studies have consistently debunked, and his call to remove fluoride from drinking water.
Kennedy took several positions on abortion during his presidential bid, first supporting then walking back his position on a 15-week ban.
"I am thrilled to announce Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS)," Trump said in a statement posted on his website Truth Social. "For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health."
"The Safety and Health of all Americans is the most important role of any Administration, and HHS will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming Health Crisis in this Country," Trump added. "Mr. Kennedy will restore these Agencies to the traditions of Gold Standard Scientific Research, and beacons of Transparency, to end the Chronic Disease epidemic, and to Make America Great and Healthy Again!"
HHS, the top health agency in the U.S., has a budget of nearly $2 billion and enormous regulatory power over federal health programs including Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, as well as federal regulations concerning abortion, such as conscience protections for health care workers who decline to participate in certain procedures to which they have an objection.
OSV News reached out to several pro-life organizations for comment on the nomination. Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life, said she would hold health care bureaucrats "accountable."
"There is no more weaponized agency than HHS, where whatever is good for the Democrats' big donor -- Planned Parenthood -- gets fast tracked," she said.
But Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, which works to elect pro-life candidates to public office, said in a statement, "There's no question that we need a pro-life HHS secretary, and of course, we have concerns about Robert F. Kennedy Jr."
"I believe that no matter who is HHS secretary, baseline policies set by President Trump during his first term will be re-established," Dannenfelser said.
Kennedy would need to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate to take the role.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., the incoming chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, said in a statement, “RFK Jr. has championed issues like healthy foods and the need for greater transparency in our public health infrastructure."
"I look forward to learning more about his other policy positions and how they will support a conservative, pro-American agenda,” he added.
Tim Chapman, president of Advancing American Freedom, a public policy advocacy organization founded by former Vice President Mike Pence, wrote in a post on X that "Conservatives should be cautious about RFK Jr."
"Given his unsteady record, it’s hard to imagine him filling any post in an administration that would not prove an unmitigated disaster for the country," he said, including a memo circulated by the group that said Kennedy backtracked after "initially coming out as marginally pro-life," and "fully embraced a radical abortion position," and that he "falsely claimed that the polio vaccine killed 'many more people than polio ever did.'"
"BOTTOM LINE: RFK Jr.'s embrace of loony ideas and policies that are antithetical to conservatism will do more damage to the Conservative Movement than the support he may bring in," the memo said.
But Gov. Jared Polis, D-Colo., wrote on X he was "excited" by the nomination, pointing to areas of agreement between the pair on drug costs, nutrition and pesticides.
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