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 choices could affect reproductive rights policy in the president-elect’s second term.
Trump’s Cabinet picks offer a preview of how his administration might handle abortion after repeatedly flip-flopping on the issue during the campaign. He tried to distance himself from anti-abortion allies by leaving abortion policy to the states, while boasting about appointing three Supreme Court justices who helped overturn constitutional protections for abortion that had existed for half a century.
In an NBC News interview that aired Sunday, Trump said he has no plans to restrict medication abortion, but also seemed to leave the door open, saying “things are changing.”
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“Things are changing, but I don’t think it’s going to change completely,” he said.
His new administration’s early lineup, including nominations to leading health agencies, the Justice Department and even the Department of Veterans Affairs, has drawn mixed — but generally positive — reactions from anti-abortion groups.
Abortion rights experts say Trump’s decision to field fewer candidates with close ties to the anti-abortion movement could signal that abortion will not be a priority for the Trump administration.
“It almost seems to suggest that President Trump may be directing his administration in other directions,” said Greer Donley, an associate professor of law at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.
Karen Stone, vice president of public policy at the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said many of the nominees “have extensive records in reproductive health care,” while 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 have no direct ties to anti-abortion activists. They worry that an administration full of top officials who are personally opposed to abortion could take steps to restrict access to the procedure and its financing.
After Trump’s lack of clarity on abortion during his campaign, “there’s still a lot we don’t know about what the policy will look like,” said Mary Ruth Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California, Davis School of Law. This approach may come to light when staffing within key departments is announced.
Trump announced that he has hit anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would nominate to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, which anti-abortion forces have long targeted as crucial to restricting abortion rights across the country. Yet Kennedy changed on the issue during his own presidential campaign.
In campaign videos, Kennedy said he supports access to abortion until viability, which doctors say is sometime after 21 weeks, although there is no defined time frame. But he also said that “every abortion is a tragedy” and called for a national ban after 15 weeks of pregnancy, a position he quickly refuted.
The head of Health and Human Services oversees Title Medicaid Services. This role is especially critical amid the legal battle over a federal law known as EMTALA, which President Joe Biden’s administration says would require access to emergency abortion 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 “unqualified, unqualified extremist who cannot be trusted to protect the health, safety and reproductive freedom of American families.”
His potential nomination has also made waves in the anti-abortion movement. Former Vice President Mike Pence, a staunch opponent of abortion, 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.
“There is 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 crucial role in access to medications, abortion and contraception. Abortion rights groups have accused him of sharing abortion misinformation 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 restrict reproductive rights, it calls for eliminating access to medication abortion nationwide, cutting Medicaid funding for abortion and limiting access to contraceptive care, especially long-acting reversible contraceptives such as IUDs.
Despite distancing himself from the conservative manifesto during his campaign, Trump is equipping his administration with people who played a central role in developing Project 2025.
Trump acknowledged during Sunday’s interview with NBC News that the report’s authors would be part of his new administration, saying, “I happen to agree with a lot of those things.”
“These Cabinet appointments all confirm that Project 2025 was, in fact, the blueprint all along, and that the alarm we saw about it was justified,” said Amy Williams Navarro, director of government relations for Reproductive Freedom for All.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, Trump’s pick to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is a former TV talk show host accused of selling dubious medical treatments and products. He expressed conflicting views on abortion during his unsuccessful 2022 Senate run.
Oz has described himself as “strongly pro-life,” praised the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, claimed “life begins at conception” and called abortion “murder.” But he has also echoed Trump’s approach to states’ rights, arguing that the federal government should not be involved in abortion decisions.
“I want women, doctors, local political leaders, the democracy that has always allowed our nation to thrive, to put forward the best ideas so that states can decide for themselves,” he said during a Senate debate two years ago.
A slew of reproductive rights groups are opposing his election to the Senate. 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 is Trump’s choice for attorney general.
Her nomination is being celebrated by abortion opponents, but is being denounced by the abortion rights groups involved. She could revive the Comstock Act, an anti-vice law passed by Congress in 1873 that, among other things, bans the shipment of drugs or instruments used in abortion.
A former anti-abortion, anti-vaccine 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 pick to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs amid a political battle over abortion access and funding for troops and veterans. Collins consistently voted to restrict funding for 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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