Trump has flip-flopped on abortion policy. His appointees may offer clues to what happens next

[December 10, 2024]  By CHRISTINE FERNANDO

CHICAGO (AP) — As Donald Trump’s Cabinet begins to take shape, those on both sides of the abortion debate are watching closely for clues about how his picks might affect reproductive rights policy in the president-elect’s second term.

Trump’s cabinet picks offer a preview of how his administration could handle abortion after he repeatedly flip-flopped on the issue on the campaign trail. He attempted to distance himself from anti-abortion allies by deferring to states on abortion policy, even while boasting about nominating three Supreme Court justices who helped strike down the constitutional protections for abortion that had stood for half a century.

In an NBC News interview that aired Sunday, Trump said he doesn't plan to restrict medication abortion but also seemed to leave the door open, saying “things change.”

“Things do change, but I don't think it's going to change at all,” he said.

The early lineup of his new administration, including nominations to lead health agencies, the Justice Department and event the Department of Veterans Affairs, has garnered mixed — but generally positive — reactions from anti-abortion groups.

Abortion law experts said Trump's decision to include fewer candidates with deep ties to the anti-abortion movement could indicate that abortion will not be a priority for Trump's administration.

“It almost seems to suggest that President Trump might be focusing his administration in other directions," said Greer Donley, an associate law professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

Karen Stone, vice president of public policy at Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said while many of the nominees have “extensive records against reproductive health care,” some do not. She cautioned against making assumptions based on Trump's initial cabinet selections.

Still, many abortion rights groups are wary, in part because many of the nominees hold strong anti-abortion views even if they do not have direct ties to anti-abortion activists. They're concerned that an administration filled with top-level officials who are personally opposed to abortion could take steps to restrict access to the procedure and funding.

After Trump’s ambiguity about abortion during his campaign, "there’s still a lot we don’t know about what policy is going to look like," said Mary Ruth Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California, Davis School of Law. That approach may be revealed as the staffs within key departments are announced.

Trump announced he would nominate anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Health and Human Services Department, which anti-abortion forces have long targeted as central to curtailing abortion rights nationwide. Yet Kennedy shifted on the issue during his own presidential campaign.

In campaign videos, Kennedy said he supports abortion access until viability, which doctors say is sometime after 21 weeks, although there is no defined timeframe. But he also said “every abortion is a tragedy” and argued for a national ban after 15 weeks of pregnancy, a stance he quickly walked back.

The head of Health and Human Services oversees Title X funding for a host of family planning services and has sweeping authority over agencies that directly affect abortion access, including the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The role is especially vital amid legal battles over a federal law known as EMTALA, which President Joe Biden’s administration has argued requires emergency abortion access nationwide, and FDA approval of the abortion pill mifepristone.

Mini Timmaraju, president of the national abortion rights organization Reproductive Freedom for All, called Kennedy an “unfit, unqualified extremist who cannot be trusted to protect the health, safety and reproductive freedom of American families.”

His potential nomination also has caused waves in the anti-abortion movement. Former Vice President Mike Pence, a staunch abortion opponent, urged the Senate to reject Kennedy’s nomination. Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the national anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said the group had its own concerns about Kennedy.

President-elect Donald Trump takes the stage before speaking at the FOX Nation Patriot Awards, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024, in Greenvale, N.Y. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)

“There’s no question that we need a pro-life HHS secretary," she said.

Fox News correspondent Marty Makary is Trump’s pick to lead the FDA, which plays a critical role in access to medication abortion and contraception. Abortion rights groups have accused him of sharing misinformation about abortion on air.

Russell Vought, a staunch anti-abortion conservative, has been nominated for director of the Office of Management and Budget. Vought was a key architect of Project 2025, a right-wing blueprint for running the federal government. Among other actions to limit reproductive rights, it calls for eliminating access to medication abortion nationwide, cutting Medicaid funding for abortion and restricting access to contraceptive care, especially long-acting reversible contraceptives such as IUD’s.

Despite distancing himself from the conservative manifesto on the campaign trail, Trump is stocking his administration with people who played central roles in developing Project 2025.

Trump acknowledged that drafters of the report would be part of his incoming administration during the Sunday interview with NBC News, saying “Many of those things I happen to agree with.”

“These cabinet appointments all confirm that Project 2025 was in fact the blueprint all along, and the alarm we saw about it was warranted,” said Amy Williams Navarro, director of government relations for Reproductive Freedom for All.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, Trump’s choice to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is a former television talk show host who has been accused of hawking dubious medical treatments and products. He voiced contradictory abortion views during his failed Senate run in 2022.

Oz has described himself as “strongly pro-life, praised the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, claimed “life starts at conception” and referred to abortion as “murder.” But he also has echoed Trump’s states-rights approach, arguing the federal government should not be involved in abortion decisions.

“I want women, doctors, local political leaders, letting the democracy that’s always allowed our nation to thrive to put the best ideas forward so states can decide for themselves,” he said during a Senate debate two years ago.

An array of reproductive rights groups opposed his Senate run. As CMS administrator, Oz would be in a key position to determine Medicaid coverage for family planning services and investigate potential EMTALA violations.

As Florida’s attorney general, Pam Bondi defended abortion restrictions, including a 24-hour waiting period. Now she’s Trump’s choice for attorney general.

Her nomination is being celebrated by abortion opponents but denounced by abortion rights groups concerned she may revive the Comstock Act, an anti-vice law passed by Congress in 1873 that, among other things, bans mailing of medication or instruments used in abortion.

An anti-abortion and anti-vaccine former Florida congressman, David Weldon, has been chosen to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which collects and monitors abortion data across the country.

Former Republican congressman Doug Collins is Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs amid a political battle over abortion access and funding for troops and veterans. Collins voted consistently to restrict funding and access to abortion and celebrated the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

“This is a team that the pro-life movement can work with," said Kristin Hawkins, president of the national anti-abortion organization Students for Life.

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