Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has changed his stance on abortion once again, saying he supports abortion up to a certain point, not the full term.
Follows pressure Kennedy’s campaign staff announced late Friday that he was backing away from his position of supporting “full-term abortions.” The statement disclosed in X. “Abortion has been a very divisive issue in America, but actually I see a consensus emerging – that abortion should be legal up to a certain number of weeks and restricted after that,” he said.
“Once a baby is able to live outside the womb, it should have rights and it deserves the protection of society,” he added.
Then came Kennedy’s final shakeup of where he stood on the divisive issue he said last week he said he would allow women to have full-term abortions.
During an interview with former ESPN host and podcaster Sage Steele, Kennedy was asked what the limit should be for women to have an abortion. “Should there be a limit, or do you say that a woman has the right to have an abortion up to the full term?” Steele asked.
Kennedy replied that I don’t think anyone would want to do that at eight months pregnant, but abortion should be out of the hands of the government and in the hands of women.
“Even if it’s full-time,” Kennedy said in response to a follow-up question. “I don’t think it’s ever good,” he said. When Steele said it would allow late-term abortions, Kennedy said, “I think we should leave that up to the women, not the state.”
The answer surprised fellow candidate Nicole Shanahan during a sit-down interview with Steele that aired a week ago.
“I understand Bobby’s position that, you know, every abortion is a tragedy, a loss of life,” Shanahan said. “My understanding is that he strongly believes in restrictions on abortion and we have talked about that. I don’t think so, I don’t know where it came from.”
Shanahan later said, “I don’t even understand his position, and I think there may have been a miscommunication there.”
Kennedy’s latest announcement comes after the candidate previously said he would support a tougher stance on abortion.
during Interview with NBC News Last August, if elected, Kennedy said his campaign would support signing a national ban on abortion after the first trimester of pregnancy, before retracting the comments.
Kennedy told NBC News: “I believe that the decision to abort a child should be left to women in the first trimester of life.” Asked if that meant signing the federal ban at 15 or 21 weeks, he said yes.
Kennedy’s campaign later issued a statement saying the candidate had “misunderstood” repeated questions on the topic.
“Mr. Kennedy misunderstood a question posed to him by an NBC reporter in a crowded, noisy exhibit hall at the Iowa State Fair,” a spokesman said, clarifying the candidate’s position on abortion has “always” been a woman’s right to choose. Kennedy “does not support legislation to ban abortion,” he said. added time campaign.
Kennedy and Shanahan are set to speak at a campaign rally in Austin, TX on Monday. The pair will meet in person for the first time since Kennedy announced that he will join Shanahan’s campaign as his vice presidential pick.