In a surprising interview with host Sage Steele, independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he is absolutely against government restrictions on abortion.
During the interview, RFK stated that abortions should be legal during the entire gestational period and argued that the state should not have any influence on a decision that, according to his vision, should fall solely on the woman.
“I wouldn’t leave it to the states. My belief is that we should leave it to the woman. We shouldn’t have government involved,” Kennedy Jr. said to Steele.
“Even if it’s full term?” Steele restated to RFK, referring to the possibility of a woman having an abortion just before the due date of a child.
“Even if it’s full term,” Kennedy Jr. confidently responded.
#WATCH | During an interview, independent candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr. stated that he agrees with abortion at all stages of pregnancy: "Even if it's full term" pic.twitter.com/w2XBDygTVx
— VOZ (@Voz_US) May 9, 2024
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Are you looking for the progressive vote?
RFK's new position is, without a doubt, a clear and radical position in favor of abortion that could seduce the progressive voter ahead of the elections in November, considering President Joe Biden's popularity problems.
It is also a new position on the part of RFK, who, in August of last year, according to statements reported by NBC News, said that he was in favor of abortion up to three months—a much less radical position than the current one.
“I believe a decision to abort a child should be up to the woman during the first three months of life,” RFK said at the time.
Additionally, at the time, the then-independent candidate responded affirmatively when asked if his position meant signing a federal ban at 15 or 21 weeks.
“Once a child is viable, outside the womb, I think then the state has an interest in protecting the child,” RFK argued, adding: “I’m for medical freedom. Individuals are able to make their own choices.”
RFK's changing stance even confused his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, who assured Steele herself that, to her understanding, Kennedy Jr. “absolutely believes in the limits on abortion.”
But Kennedy Jr.'s new position on abortion is now clear. It aims directly to seduce the progressive vote at a time when President Biden, according to the majority of polls published in April, is at a disadvantage compared to former President Trump when the independent candidate is on the ballot.
For example, a national poll from Emerson College shows Trump leading Biden by four percentage points (43.5% / 39.6%) thanks partly to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He has 7.6% of the support of the sample surveyed.
Other polls, such as the CNN/SSRS one, show a much larger difference, with Trump beating Biden by nine points (42% / 33%) thanks to a potential good performance by RFK at the polls: 16%.
Likewise, a HarrisX/Harvard CAPS poll shows a significant advantage for Trump over Biden, thanks to the presence of RFK on the ballot.
According to HarrisX/Harvard, in November, Trump would garner 46% of the vote compared to 39% for Biden and 14% for RFK.
All of these polls were released in April, before RFK's statements on abortion and government restrictions.
Throughout the presidential campaign, the main doubt surrounding Kennedy Jr. has been about who was most electorally harmed by the presidency of John F. Kennedy's nephew, Biden or Trump.
Initially, when he was running for the Democratic nomination, RFK surprised the conservative electorate by taking over several popular talking points among the political right, including criticism of the pharmaceutical industry, the importance of freedom of expression and his opposition to interventionism in the economy.
However, as the campaign progressed and he immersed himself in the role as an independent, Kennedy Jr. not only showed affinity towards ideas and proposals promoted by American progressivism, but he also promised to promote measures and policies such as granting reparations to the black community, minority representation programs known as affirmative action, a climate agenda even more radical than Biden and, ultimately, legal abortion without government restrictions.
At the end of the day, every progressive flag that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. flies. It's a problem for Biden and a gift for former President Trump.
