For many Americans, November\u2019s presidential election is about one issue: abortion. President Biden hopes that a pro-abortion rights message will carry him to reelection, and Donald Trump regularly brags about his role in the end of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that protected abortion rights nationwide.<\/p>\n
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the longshot independent hopeful with a famous family name whose candidacy has centered heavily on his skepticism of vaccines, barely mentions abortion. When he does, he often sends mixed signals.<\/p>\n
Kennedy has said he believes the decision to seek an abortion should be left to women and their doctors. But he has held just one campaign event focused on abortion, an October visit to an Atlanta facility founded by Angela Stanton King \u2014 an anti-abortion and criminal justice reform activist and former Trump supporter whom the ex-president pardoned for her role in a car theft ring. In the months that followed Kennedy\u2019s appearance at Stanton King\u2019s facility, which aims to convince women to carry their pregnancies to term, he has repeated her false and inflammatory claims that abortion providers systematically target Black women.<\/p>\n
Kennedy has avoided taking a concrete stance on the nation\u2019s patchwork of abortion bans and U.S. House Republicans\u2019 efforts to pass federal restrictions, calling abortion a \u201cculture war issue\u201d used to divide people. He has said that \u201cevery abortion is a tragedy,\u201d but has few plans to take on the issue in the White House.<\/p>\n
Kennedy mentioned abortion just twice in the 11 speeches and campaign events that appear on his YouTube page. He mentioned the word \u201cvaccine\u201d 10 times. On X, formerly Twitter, he\u2019s mentioned the word \u201cabortion\u201d five times since the start of last year. He posted the word \u201cvaccine\u201d 64 times in the same period.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s trying to avoid what\u2019s probably the most salient issue right now,\u201d Roy Behr, the author of \u201cThird Parties in America: Citizen Response to Major Party Failure.\u2019<\/p>\n
Kennedy\u2019s ambiguity on abortion \u2014 an issue many voters say is a major motivator for them this race \u2014 may not hurt him in November. Kennedy, the nephew of a former president and son of a former U.S. attorney general, has appealed to a politically diverse group of supporters with nuanced views, including some who identify as conservative but weary of Trump and others who describe themselves as liberals unenthused with Biden. Outlining a clearer abortion position could hurt his standing with one or more of those groups.<\/p>\n
Kennedy doesn\u2019t focus on abortion in speeches because it is a divisive issue, his campaign told The Washington Post.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Kennedy does not want to add fuel to the fire,\u201d campaign spokeswoman Stefanie Spear wrote in an email, citing issues including chronic disease, infrastructure, disarmament and farming practices that protect the environment. \u201cThese issues also have the potential to unify the country, unlike abortion, which is fundamentally divisive. So, Mr. Kennedy makes his position plain, but does not dwell on the subject.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spear said Kennedy, who has not previously shared his thoughts on Arizona\u2019s state Supreme Court decision to revive a near-total ban on abortion earlier this month, opposes the ruling. She said he also disagreed with Trump\u2019s proposal to leave abortion restrictions up to the states.<\/p>\n
After The Post enquired about Kennedy\u2019s abortion position, the campaign added a new abortion policy page to its website, proposing \u201ca massive subsidized daycare initiative\u201d paid for by funds Kennedy would reroute from Ukraine war aid. The page doesn\u2019t provide any more information about how Kennedy would respond to abortion bans in states.<\/p>\n
Twelve percent of voters, including two-thirds of Democrats, say abortion is the \u201cmost important issue\u201d in their 2024 vote, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll last month. Down the ballot, voters have signaled their disapproval of strict bans on abortion, supporting statewide referendums and candidates that would protect or expand abortion access.<\/p>\n
This election marks the first time many voters will be able to weigh in post-Roe, and Kennedy\u2019s opponents could use his near-silence on abortion rights to cast doubt on his commitment to them, Democratic pollster Nancy Zdunkewicz said. New stories of women in dangerous, difficult circumstances who are unable to get abortions resonate with voters, she argued.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all way too real for people in a way that it just wasn\u2019t before,\u201d Zdunkewicz said.<\/p>\n
Kennedy is likely to attract voters who agree with him on vaccines and feel disaffected with the two major political parties, but will face more difficulty attracting people who aren\u2019t interested in one of his primary concerns such as vaccine safety, said Bernard Tamas, a political science professor at Valdosta State University and author of \u201cThe Demise and Rebirth of American Third Parties.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think that very many people are going to make decisions for or against Kennedy based on abortion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Kennedy\u2019s lone campaign stop focused on abortion was an October visit to Auntie Angie\u2019s House, a center for pregnant women in a Black community in Atlanta run by Stanton King. When Trump pardoned Stanton King, he cited her advocacy for people reentering society after being released from prison.<\/p>\n
The interaction with Stanton King appeared to leave an impression on Kennedy, who has since repeated her inaccurate claim that Black women are systematically coerced into getting abortions at least three times. In a virtual discussion with Stanton King in February, Kennedy repeated that disinformation that Black women receive a vast majority of abortions and most abortion clinics are in Black communities.<\/p>\n
Kennedy\u2019s campaign says he \u201cmisspoke\u201d when he referred to the percent of Black women receiving abortions, but neither of the claims he repeated is correct according to multiple research studies.<\/p>\n
More than 6 in 10 abortion clinics were located in predominantly White neighborhoods and about 1 in 10 clinics were in predominantly Black neighborhoods, according to a 2014 report from the Guttmacher Institute, a research and advocacy group that favors abortion rights. The group told The Post that post-Roe abortion bans in states with large Black populations have likely led to fewer clinics in Black neighborhoods since that analysis was completed.<\/p>\n
Stanton King told The Post she did not ask Kennedy during his visit when he believes life begins, whether he would sign an abortion ban or his thoughts on the abortion restrictions passed in neighboring states. But Stanton King came away with the belief that Kennedy could do a better job than the major party candidates in bridging the partisan divide, and she later joined his campaign as an advisor. She said she appreciated Kennedy\u2019s promise to invest the same amount of federal resources that are committed to abortion services in social safety net programs for new mothers who need aid.<\/p>\n
Many of Kennedy\u2019s rare comments about abortion have come during media interviews, providing a patchy view of his policy and personal beliefs.<\/p>\n
At the Iowa State Fair in August 2023, Kennedy said he would support a federal ban on abortion after 15 weeks of gestation, then said he would not \u201cpersonally\u201d restrict abortion but added, \u201cI think the states have a right to protect a child once the child becomes viable, and that right, it increases.\u201d (His campaign later clarified that he would not sign a ban.)<\/p>\n
In an interview with PBS News in November, Kennedy said he didn\u2019t know what Biden could do to help protect women\u2019s access to abortions.<\/p>\n
In a video released the same day as Biden\u2019s State of the Union address, in which the president called for Congress to restore Roe, Kennedy didn\u2019t mention abortion rights at all.<\/p>\n
Biden\u2019s allies have emphasized the president\u2019s efforts to expand access to contraception, abortion medication and emergency abortion care and point out the stark contrast with Trump\u2019s work to restrict abortion access. When Kerry Kennedy, Kennedy\u2019s sister, endorsed Biden along with more than a dozen other members of her family at a campaign rally Thursday, she cited Biden\u2019s support for abortion rights as one of the main reasons to back him.<\/p>\n
Kennedy\u2019s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, funded research into the longevity of women\u2019s reproductive health and criticized in-vitro fertilization as \u201cone of the biggest lies that\u2019s being told about women\u2019s health today.\u201d In a lengthy post on X on April 9, after Arizona\u2019s state Supreme Court decision, Shanahan wrote she \u201ccan hold both beliefs,\u201d suggesting bans are \u201ccoercive\u201d and \u201cwrong\u201d but that women should carry pregnancies to term unless the mother or baby\u2019s health is at risk.<\/p>\n
Most voters who have already said they plan to vote for Kennedy said he talks about abortion enough.<\/p>\n
Mike Roy, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel in Annapolis, Md., said he is voting for Kennedy because he believes the independent can keep America out of other countries\u2019 wars, close the Southern border and more aggressively regulate polluters. Abortion is not a top issue for the 46-year-old, but he agrees with Kennedy that women should have the right to choose the procedure. Still, he sees little point in Kennedy focusing on the topic.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think he needs to talk about it more,\u201d Roy said. \u201cIt\u2019s such a polarizing issue and the theme of the campaign is to heal the divide.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lori Spencer, a Kennedy campaign volunteer in Oklahoma City who voted for the libertarian candidates in the last two presidential elections, disagrees. The 54-year-old was once a loyal Democratic voter but she left the party in 1996 after she felt like its leaders weren\u2019t keeping their promises, arguing Democrats could have protected Roe when they had the chance. Biden is no different, she believes.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe talks the talk, but he doesn\u2019t walk the walk,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Spencer said Kennedy might benefit from talking about abortion rights more and appealing more to voters like her who believe the government should not be involved in medical decisions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI personally would like to see him be more vocal about his pro-choice beliefs,\u201d Spencer said. \u201cBut he\u2019ll talk about it when asked and he\u2019ll give you a clear answer. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any ambiguity or misunderstanding of his position. He\u2019s very clear. So I\u2019m happy enough with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kennedy\u2019s campaign has also used his abortion position to appeal to conservative voters. Rita Palma, who worked for Kennedy gathering ballot access signatures in New York, told voters in this month that the candidate\u2019s position was comparable to Trump\u2019s. Palma was later fired after being caught on video saying Kennedy could help Trump win.<\/p>\n
\u201cBobby believes and I heard this out of his own mouth: \u2018Every abortion is a tragedy,\u2019\u201d she said in the video. \u201cHe\u2019s definitely not, you know, 100% pro-life. But none of the candidates are. Even Trump is saying that they have to find that, quote-unquote sweet spot in order to win elections.\u201d Palma declined to comment for this story.<\/p>\n
Even Kennedy has acknowledged he doesn\u2019t know what he would do on abortion once in the White House. When a Post reporter asked him in February how he would protect abortion access and reproductive rights if he were elected president, he replied: \u201cI don\u2019t know, you tell me. What should I be doing?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
For many Americans, November\u2019s presidential election is about one issue: abortion. President Biden hopes that a pro-abortion rights message will carry him to reelection, and Donald Trump regularly brags about his role in the end of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that protected abortion rights nationwide. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the longshot independent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3419,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}