Robert F. Kennedy, in the Senate: "Every abortion is a tragedy"

Regarding abortion, Trump's nominee for HHS assured that he is going to ask the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to investigate the safety of mifepristone - a drug used for abortion: "We need to understand the safety of every drug, mifepristone and all the others."

Senator Bernie Sanders (Vermont) criticized Kennedy for selling clothing with anti-vaccine slogans: "Right now, as I understand it, on their website they are selling what's called onesies. These are little things -- clothing for babies. One of them is titled, 'Unvaxxed, Unafraid.' They're sold for $26 a piece by the way. Next one is, 'No Vax, No Problem.'"

On the abortion issue, Kennedy received another attack from the Democratic caucus. This time, Senator Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) accused Kennedy of supporting "women's reproductive freedom":

"It is remarkable that you have such a long record of fighting for women’s reproductive freedom, and really great that my Republican colleagues are so open to voting for a pro-choice HHS Secretary."

Kennedy knows he is not facing an easy audience and that he will receive attacks mainly from the Democratic side. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) stated during the appearance that Trump's nominee to lead HHS would "frighten people."

One of the issues he is asked about at length is abortion. In this regard, Kennedy responded:

"I agree with President Trump that every abortion is a tragedy. I agree that we cannot be a moral nation if we have 1.2 million abortions a year. States should control abortion."

"In my advocacy work I have often disturbed the status quo by asking uncomfortable questions. I'm not going to apologize for that. We have enormous health problems in this country that we must face honestly. And the first thing I've done every morning for the last 20 years is get on my knees and pray to God to put me in a position to end the epidemic of chronic disease and help America's children," Kennedy said during his hearing.

In another expected statement, Kennedy assured that HHS, under his leadership, will find the immigrant minors who went missing during the Biden administration.

"President Trump has personally spoken to me about locating those 300,000 children who have disappeared over the last four years. And many of them we know have been sex trafficked and (put into) childhood slavery, and it is a blight on America’s moral authority, and we need to find those kids."

Trump's nominee for HHS asserted that chronic diseases are responsible for high healthcare costs.

"Why are healthcare costs so high? The obvious answer is chronic diseases," he said.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) noted that Kennedy has been profiting from controversial comments.

"He has made it his life's work to sow doubt and dissuade parents from vaccinating their children to save their lives. It has been lucrative for him and has put him on the brink of immense power. This is the profile of someone who pursues money and influence wherever they take him, even if it may mean the tragic deaths of children and other vulnerable people," Wyden said.

Kennedy responded to questions from Republican senators such as Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) about his stance on vaccines.   

"The media has claimed that I'm either anti-vaccine or anti-industry. Well, I'm neither; I'm pro-safety. I worked for years to raise awareness about mercury and toxic chemicals in fish, but that didn't make me anti-fish. All my children are vaccinated and I believe vaccines have a critical role in health care," Kennedy said.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s appearance before the U.S. Senate to obtain his confirmation as secretary of health and human services in the Trump administration begins.