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(LifeSiteNews) — Republican senators should vote no on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) due to his past support for abortion, according to Mike Pence’s political group.

The letter, from Advancing American Freedom, notes that RFK “expressed support for abortion on-demand up until birth” as a presidential candidate. This is out of step with the first Trump administration’s record on life, according to the letter.

Vice President Mike Pence did not sign the letter, but the president of the group, Tim Chapman, and the chairman of the board, Marc Short, did. Chapman is a longtime political activist, previously leading Heritage Action for America. Short served as Pence’s chief of staff in the first Trump term.

“There are hundreds of decisions made every day at HHS that either lead our nation toward a respect for life or away from it,” Chapman and Short wrote.

This includes “federal funding for Planned Parenthood,” abortion drug regulations, and “insurance coverage of abortion.”

The letter includes five questions for RFK, asking for his views on when life should be protected, regulating abortion drugs, defunding Planned Parenthood, protecting conscience rights, and requiring states to report abortion data.

RFK Jr. has drawn interest from some conservatives for his support for medical freedom when it comes to vaccines, his criticism of Big Pharma, and his pledge to “Make America Healthy Again” by taking on unsafe foods and chronic diseases.

At the same time, he has held a variety of positions on abortion, most recently settling on what he called the “emerging consensus” that killing babies should be limited to the first 15 weeks or so. This would only protect about 7 percent of babies from abortion, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data.

However, some senators were more comfortable voting for RFK after meeting with him in December 2024, as previously reported by LifeSiteNews.

READ: RFK Jr., Tulsi Gabbard confirmation hearings delayed

“I think there’s too many abortions in the world, let’s just start there,” he reportedly said.

“It’s not that I don’t value life, I value life, I just look at it a little bit different in certain circumstances, what we’ve been through as a family,” Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) reported RFK Jr. saying.

The nominee also promised to appoint pro-life deputies at HHS and restore several key Trump administration policies. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) said RFK promised to prohibit foreign funding of abortions, barring recipients of Title X funds from committing abortions, and repealing Section 1557 in Obamacare. This last part relates to a mandate that doctors and hospitals commit transgender drugs and surgeries.

RFK’s position on abortion has drawn mixed comments from pro-life leaders.

“There is ample room for the incoming administration to advance the pro-life movement incrementally over the next four years!” Americans United for Life CEO John Mize wrote on X.

“There’s a very quiet, not spoken, but very real concern about RFK leading HHS, but what you’re seeing is a pro-life movement that feels like it’s been losing a lot, and that that movement feels in many ways like they can’t afford another loss,” Chapman, with Advancing American Freedom, told The Dispatch.

Kristan Hawkins of Students for Life Action has argued that RFK, due to his interest in environmental issues, could take up the cause of regulating abortion pills. The group wants further scrutiny of the drugs effect on the American water supply. However, she also called on Trump to appoint pro-lifers to HHS, such as Roger Severino.

“Making health care about health will rightly and dramatically change the course of federal policy,” Hawkins wrote at The Federalist in early December. “Nominating movers and shakers like RFK Jr. to key agency rolls is a start, but it’s not enough. To accomplish what voters elected him to do, Trump needs to appoint pro-lifers like Roger Severino to strategic health posts too.”

Severino is pro-life and previously led HHS’ Office of Civil Rights in the first Trump administration.

The conservative Heritage Foundation is currently running ads in support of his confirmation, based on his promise to shake up the scientific and medical establishment, as recently reported by LifeSiteNews. However, his nomination has been delayed.

While some liberal Republicans, such as Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), have expressed opposition to RFK, some Democrats have shown an openness to voting for him.

“I think what he’s saying about the food industry is exactly correct,” Bernie Sanders, a socialist senator from Vermont, previously told CBS News. “I think you have a food industry concerned about their profits, could care less about the health of the American people. I think they have to be taken on.” He criticized RFK’s views on vaccines, however.

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