Robert F. Kennedy Jr. advances to Senate confirmation as secretary of health and human services

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday managed to advance toward confirmation of his nomination in the Senate as secretary of health and human services.

Kennedy passed the vote by a count of 14-13. In doing so, the Senate Finance Committee approved Kennedy's nomination after he made it through a hearing that at times had great attention as senators asked Kennedy about his position on various health care issues in the country.

For example, at last week's hearing, Kennedy answered 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.

Another issue he was asked about at length is abortion. On that, 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," the former independent presidential candidate said.