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Secretary of Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pledged to several Republican senators this week to reinstate and uphold the pro-life policies enacted by President Donald Trump’s first administration if he is confirmed.

According to Sen. Josh Hawley, Kennedy plans to facilitate the return of popular Trump-era protections like a prohibition on taxpayer-funded abortions at home and abroad and a gag rule requiring institutions that receive Title X funding, like Planned Parenthood, to separate their medical care from their abortion activities. Kennedy also reportedly promised that the conscience protections the Biden administration worked overtime to undo would be restored.  

Perhaps the most important commitment Kennedy made to Hawley is that “all of his deputies at HHS would be prolife.” As Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins noted in the pages of The Federalist earlier this month, “appointing pro-life personnel [to HHS] is critical” to Trump’s “up to the states” agenda because it is the only way to ensure “Trump’s goal of less federal government engagement with abortion” isn’t stonewalled by pro-abortion bureaucrats.

When Trump nominated Kennedy to head the federal health authority, several pro-life organizations signaled hesitation. As a 2024 presidential candidate, Kennedy expressed support for abortion through all nine months of pregnancy.

“Ultimately, I don’t trust government to have jurisdiction over people’s bodies,” Kennedy said. “I think we need to leave it to the woman, her pastor, and to, you know, her spiritual advisors or advisor or physician, whatever, to make those decisions.”

After learning that women selectively “abort healthy, viable late-term fetuses,” Kennedy later walked back his position to endorsing abortion until “the baby is viable outside the womb,” around 22 weeks gestation.

Republicans are right to be wary of how Kennedy’s personal beliefs on baby-killing could square with his potential duties as health secretary — especially since those beliefs are still at odds with Americans’ opposition to butchering babies beyond 15 weeks. After all, the department Kennedy could be confirmed to lead is the top federal authority when it comes to abortion.

But if Trump’s example taught Americans anything, it’s that administration leaders’ personal feelings about abortion don’t necessarily need to align with the fight to protect life; only their actions do.

For Kennedy to make good on the GOP’s confidence that he will be confirmed, he must stick to his guns on reimplementing the Mexico City policy (a ban on funneling millions of American taxpayers’ dollars to organizations that perform or encourage abortions) and every other promise he made in his rounds on Capitol Hill. If he is wise and truly believes Americans should be freed from the clutches of Big Pharma, as he’s proclaimed so many times in recent months, RFK Jr. will also take steps to limit the largely deregulated distribution of dangerous abortion pills.

Trump’s first-term overhaul of HHS abortion policy was wildly successful, earning him the title of the “most pro-life president.” The incoming president’s second-term success when it comes to health care policy hinges on Kennedy making good on his promises to protect life.

Jordan Boyd is a staff writer at The Federalist and producer of The Federalist Radio Hour. Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire, Fox News, and RealClearPolitics. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on X @jordanboydtx.