❤️ Reproductive Freedom for All
❤️ Our right to reproductive freedom must be protected. Read the latest updates and join the movement to hold our leaders accountable to the people's will.
Every action counts in the fight for abortion access. Today in ❤️ Reproductive Freedom for All we’re featuring January 28, 2025 news and critical calls-to-action.
For Immediate Release: January 29, 2025
Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Statement on RFK Jr.’s Confirmation Hearing
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, in his first hearing as nominee for Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. came out strongly against reproductive freedom, attacking mifepristone and saying, “I believe that every abortion is a tragedy.” In response, Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, released the following statement:
“It is no surprise that a man who has repeatedly shown disregard for science and health care has now come out against abortion rights and reproductive freedom. There is nothing tragic about people making their own deeply personal decisions about their bodies, lives, and futures without the government interfering. The real tragedy is the health care crisis that President Donald Trump helped create with the overturning of Roe, and that RFK Jr. appears intent on worsening.”
During the hearing, Kennedy also hinted that he might come after access to mifepristone. Mifepristone is safe and effective and has been used by nearly 6 million people in the U.S. for medication abortion and miscarriage care since it was approved by the FDA more than two decades ago. Medication abortion accounts for more than half of abortions in the U.S., and is essential for protecting access to abortion care.
Kennedy also wouldn’t commit to protecting essential sexual and reproductive health care services, including the nation’s birth control program, Title X; and access to care at Planned Parenthood health centers for Medicaid patients. Millions of patients rely on Planned Parenthood health centers to get quality, affordable health care like cancer screenings, STI testing, birth control, and more.
Kennedy also has a history of spreading misinformation about vaccines — including the safe and effective HPV vaccine — and his views have already eroded trust in our country’s evidence-based approach to science and medicine.
The Trump administration Kennedy is vying to join has already tried to restrict health care access by pausing federal grants and throwing our nation’s health care system into chaos, leaving patients unsure about where they can turn for care. Just last night Trump released an executive order to take away young transgender people’s ability to get health care. Last week, Trump reinstated the deadly global gag rule and pardoned violent extremists who attacked health centers, harassed patients and threatened care.
If confirmed as HHS Secretary, Kennedy would have great power over sexual and reproductive health care. HHS oversees the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Office of Population Health (which oversees the federal Title X family planning program), and other federal agencies that make policies about sexual and reproductive health.
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