John,

President-elect Trump just nominated Robert F. Kennedy (RFK), Jr. to be America’s next Secretary of the Health and Human Services (HHS) Department. What will this mean for the pro-life movement, considering RFK, Jr. has publicly said he supports abortion?

How can we protect the health of Americans if they are killed before they are even born?

RFK, Jr. had been a lifelong Democrat, even competing with Joe Biden for the 2024 Presidential election, until he dropped out in October 2023 and switched to an independent run for the White House. 

He then suspended his campaign in August of this year and endorsed Donald Trump. 

What this surprising turn of events tells me: It’s clear that Kennedy is able to dramatically change his mind. 

Although Kennedy is a proclaimed Catholic, his stance on abortion is not in line with the Church’s teachings. 

In May 2024, Kennedy stated that women should retain the “right” to abortion “even if it’s full term.”

After receiving massive backlash, he changed his position. 

Within this clarifying post on X, Kennedy pulled back on supporting late-term abortion but used three main lies to justify his stance that abortion should remain accessible through “viability.”

Lie #1: “Almost no one supports gruesome third-trimester abortions except to save the life of the mother.”

Truth: Abortion is never medically necessary, for any reason, including to save the life of the mother. Pre-term delivery might be required, and the child might unintentionally, tragically not survive, but the key point is that the death was not intended, whereas the abortion IS the intentional killing of the child. 

Lie #2: “What if the baby has some fatal condition that ensures it will survive just hours or days after birth in intense suffering? Can we, should we, legislate such painful decisions and take them away from the mother? Is a bureaucrat or judge better equipped than the baby’s own mother to decide?”

Truth: In the tragic cases where the baby only lives a few hours — why would we take away those precious moments outside the womb between the parents and the child when we could provide every medical comfort available to the child before he or she passes? How is killing that child more merciful? Yes, parents should have the freedom to make decisions about their children, but not if the question is about killing the child. Countless more people would be here today if abortion had been against the law this whole time. 

Lie #3: “Once the baby is viable outside the womb, it should have rights and it deserves society’s protection.”

Truth: The youngest child to survive outside the womb was born at 21 weeks and 1 day. This baby was just as human the day before he was born and was just as deserving of legal protection then. Just because a baby is not able to survive outside the womb does not mean he or she is any less human or less worthy of being protected. Age does not determine humanity. Viability is a vague and dangerous term. People refer to it as the point at which a baby can survive outside the womb, but that point changes as medical advances change. Additionally, every baby requires ongoing care to survive, even if completely healthy and delivered full-term. 

I agree with Kennedy when he points out that we should be getting to the root cause of why people get abortions. He says:

“We should be looking at why there are so many abortions in the first place. The biggest reason according to studies is affordability. [...] We can reduce abortion across the board by supporting motherhood, supporting parents, and supporting families.”

Supporting families and empowering mothers is crucial, which is why we advocate for policies and initiatives that provide resources, community, and care for women facing unplanned pregnancies.

However, let’s be honest: no circumstance, financial or otherwise, justifies the intentional destruction of innocent life. The existence of poverty is not an excuse to murder the impoverished. 

The fact that Kennedy’s position on abortion shifted this year, from supporting abortion through all nine months to supporting abortion through about 22 weeks, shows that he can change his mind when presented with the facts. 

After the backlash he received in May, he learned more about late-term abortion and said: “...you can always change my mind with facts. If you […] show me I’m wrong about one of my presumptions, I’m gonna change my mind. And that’s what happened with the abortion thing.” 

He now believes that abortion in the 9th month is “basically killing a child.” 

Kennedy does have the moral intuition that we should not kill a baby, and he does have the intuition that killing healthy, full-term babies is horrifying. 

The Secretary of HHS is in charge of virtually anything abortion-related in the executive branch. As the nominee for this position, Kennedy needs to be shown the full truth. He needs to watch Live Action’s “What is Abortion?” videos and apply the moral intuition he already has to all babies, even in the first and second trimesters.

Every baby deserves protection.

I find hope in the fact that Kennedy has been moved by the truth in the past. 

We as Americans can influence our nation’s leaders. We must. It’s already happened with RFK, Jr. to a degree. We must be relentless in calling out the lies until he, President-elect Trump, and all national leaders protect EVERY innocent child. 

In his promotion of Trump and promising to “Make America Healthy Again,” Kennedy is known to use the phrase:

“We must find a way to love our children more than we hate each other.”

All children should be included in this statement. America’s future depends on how we view our children today — born and preborn. 

For Life,

Lila Rose

Founder and President