What is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s stance on abortion? Apparently, he doesn’t know himself.
In a recent interview with Sage Steele, Kennedy not only expressed support for legalizing abortion through all nine months of pregnancy, but for any reason whatsoever. Even his own running mate, Nicole Shanahan was taken aback. “I don’t know where that came from,” she replied.
Protecting unborn life is too important a duty to chance on a waffling candidate like Kennedy.
Kennedy has since been forced to walk back his comments. It’s no surprise why. Legalizing abortion up until birth, according to polling, is extremely unpopular. Even Joe Biden’s campaign attempted to seize upon public sentiment, (falsely) claiming the president “doesn’t support full-term abortions” and that he “thinks that Roe got it right” (despite the fact Roe allowed for full-term abortions).
However, Kennedy’s hedge — allowing abortion to “be legal up until a certain number of weeks, and restricted thereafter” — still doesn’t come close to assuaging pro-life concerns. In fact, it would leave the door open to overriding laws in states that protect the unborn, including in circumstances where the child is capable of feeling pain. (READ MORE from Frank Cannon: From RFK to Donald Trump: 50 Years of American Populism)
Moreover, it turns out the interview with Steele was not the first time Kennedy changed his tune on the matter of life.
Last August at the Iowa State Fair, when asked what the federal law should be on abortion, he responded, “I believe a decision to abort a child should be up to the women during the first three months of life.” He added that once “a child is viable, outside the womb, I think then the state has an interest in protecting the child.” But after Kennedy was blasted by the left, his campaign sprang into action, denying he would support any federal limits. It even lamely blamed his response on not correctly hearing the question in a “crowded, noisy exhibition hall.”
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Kennedy has proudly identified as a pro-choice candidate, declaring that he would never “tell a woman to bring a child to term.” Meanwhile, Shanahan has said that protecting the life of the unborn by legislation is “coercive” and “wrong,” even as she herself claims to be uncomfortable with abortion.
One seeking out his position will fare no better by reading his campaign website. The official platform on the issue, “More Choices More Life,” lays out lofty goals of “universal childcare” and strengthened “adoption infrastructure” while saying almost nothing specific about abortion policy beyond a pledge to “safeguard women’s reproductive rights.” Kennedy thinks spending more money on caring for children ought to relieve our government of its obligation to protect them in the first place.
All of the wishy-washy, pseudo-compassionate rhetoric coming from Kennedy’s camp is cultivated to serve a particular purpose: obscuring the candidate’s inability to answer the simple question of whether unborn children should be legally defended. Perhaps he hopes that by appearing to be a “moderate” on abortion, voters will lose sight of his actual position, or complete lack thereof.
This equivocation is by no means exclusive to abortion, either. Kennedy has taken a similarly elusive tack on, for instance, protecting children from the transgender industry. He has been equally slippery on issues ranging from energy policy to the 2020 election.
Fortunately for pro-life conservatives, at least two things about this election are unambiguous. First, a second term for Joe Biden would be a disaster for the unborn. Biden has promised to support abortion until birth for any reason with the full backing of the federal government — and, given his radical track record, we have no reason to doubt him. And second, another Donald Trump administration would block left-wing attempts to impose abortion extremism on the entire country. (READ MORE: RFK Jr.: Biden’s and the Democrats’ Ongoing Nightmare)
Protecting unborn life is too important a duty to chance on a waffling candidate like Kennedy. The choice for pro-life Americans this November is clearer than ever.
Frank Cannon is founding president of American Principles Project. Follow on X: @frankcannonAPP
