Eric Risberg/Associated Press
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Nicole Shanahan wave on stage and introduce her as their running mate during a campaign campaign on March 26, 2024 in Oakland, California.
CNN
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign said late Thursday that he supports limiting access to abortion based on “fetal viability” and that he supports limiting the federal government’s gestational age limit to “15 to 18 weeks.” Vice presidential candidate Nicole Shanahan’s comments about the campaign supporting , said that’s not the case. This reflects Kennedy’s views. This is just the latest mixed message from the campaign over his stance on abortion, after President Kennedy walked back recent comments he made in opposition to government restrictions.
Mr. Kennedy’s position differs from Mr. Shanahan’s in that he believes the cut-off should be at the viability of the fetus. However, both argue for the new idea of no limit up to a certain point and then a limit. It’s consistent with the national consensus,” campaign spokeswoman Stephanie Speer told CNN. Most experts say fetal viability appears around 23 to 24 weeks of pregnancy.
In an interview on the Cartier Family podcast published Wednesday, Shanahan said the Kennedy campaign is “very much in favor of restrictions” on access to abortion, adding that the independent presidential candidate has spoken with abortion rights advocates about abortion. He explained that he arrived at this position through dialogue with both opposition and supporters. About his campaign.
“As you know, the current campaign stance is focused on conditions and restrictions, and the campaign is very supportive of restrictions on abortion,” she said.
Asked how long the Kennedy campaign wanted to limit abortions, Shanahan said, “You know, it varies between 15 and 18 weeks.”
The vice presidential candidates’ divergent comments are just the latest in a shift in the Kennedy campaign’s views on abortion, from outright opposition to government restrictions to more in line with the framework created through Roe v. These range from support for restricting abortion during the final months of pregnancy. Wade.
President Kennedy said in a podcast interview published last week that he opposes any government restrictions on abortion access. When asked if he supported making abortion legal “even at term,” referring to the possibility of an abortion occurring close to the due date, Kennedy answered in the affirmative.
His comments prompted a backlash from the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, which said his comments were “unacceptable to millions of pro-life voters across the country.” Stated.
Angela Stanton King, who has guided Kennedy’s campaign staff on abortion policy, criminal justice and black voter support, publicly condemned Kennedy’s comments in a social media post.
Kennedy retracted his comments the next day after speaking with campaign staff, including Stanton King.in social media posts He made his position clear, saying that “abortion should be legal up to a certain number of weeks” and that abortions in the “last months of pregnancy” should be restricted.
In his statement, President Kennedy did not mention appropriate restrictions on access to abortion, but based on the framework created through Roe v. Wade, which established a constitutional right to abortion before the fetus is viable. showed support for the restrictions.
“I support the emerging consensus that abortion should be unlimited until a certain point. I believe that that point should be when the baby is viable outside the womb. President Kennedy said in a statement last week. “Therefore, I intend to allow appropriate restrictions on abortions during the last months of pregnancy, similar to Roe v. Wade.”
When Kennedy himself ran for president as a Democrat last year, he expressed support for the federal government’s three-month limit on abortions, but his campaign quickly retracted that position.
In a new interview, Mr. Shanahan echoed Mr. Kennedy’s skepticism about the federal government regulating health care and expressed support for states determining access to abortion. But she said she worries that state-level abortion regulations could make the issue “overly politicized.”
“I think it’s a good thing that states tend to make these decisions. What I worry about in cases like this is again that elections can become too politicized and go too far,” she said. Told. “Because, you know, even very religious people in this country felt that the whole politicization of this issue was leading to more extreme positions than they intended.”
Democrats took advantage of Shanahan’s openness to letting states decide on abortion access. Rhys Smith, who is leading the fight against third-party candidates for the Democratic National Committee, slammed the Kennedy-Shanahan ticket as unreliable on reproductive rights issues.
“Oh. When Nicole Shanahan sees state after state ban abortion, she thinks it’s a “good thing.” This comes after Robert Kennedy Jr. said he would sign a national abortion ban.They can’t be trusted when it comes to abortion rights,” Smith said. wrote on social media Thursday.
Mr. Shanahan fired back, accusing Mr. Smith of making “easy attacks” and misrepresenting his policy positions.
“I said it’s good to allow communities to solve their own problems. Bringing women’s choices closer to women is a positive thing,” Shanahan responded. “We need to acknowledge that women in our age group are struggling to build the families they want and do something about it, rather than airlifting one-liners from a two-minute video and taking cheesy photos. Let’s wake up.”
A DNC statement later accused Kennedy of hiding from “abortion extremism” while stressing that state-level abortion regulations “put women’s lives at risk.”
“By reaching state after state, we have implemented dangerous abortion bans from Alabama to North Dakota, putting women’s lives at risk and denying them access to care,” the statement said. ing.
This article and heading have been updated with additional developments.
CNN’s Eva McKend contributed to this report.
