Exactly one month ago I hosted RFK in New York City.
He agreed to sit down for a “fireside chat” with me for 45 minutes.
Here’s what he told me:
“I’ve spent my lifetime fighting for the sanctity of life of all living things. I believe abortion is a moral calamity, and it’s a calamity for our nation when millions of abortions take place each year. I think as a nation we need to focus on how to reduce dramatically the number of abortions.”
But then he also said…
“But there’s a countervailing feature of my ‘cosmology’ which is a bias toward personal freedom…and I’ve been more vocal about medical freedom when it comes to vaccines and forced medical procedures.”
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He called “third trimester” abortions “appalling,” but went on to say he would be against the government regulating abortion prior to viability.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., cannot be described as “pro-life” in a traditional sense. While I am persuaded that he believes all life is indeed sacred, he wants to solve the “moral calamity” of abortion by other means — and does not believe the government should intervene in a woman’s “choice” – at least earlier in pregnancy.
Of course I disagree with him. And I said so publicly…to him.
I told him that while we disagree, we would work and pray to convince him of the need to protect all human life in law.
But there’s more…
I am also convinced that RFK isn’t simply an ordinary politician trying to dodge the abortion issue. And while we definitely do not agree on what the law should say, I believe his focus on Making America Healthy Again presents a major pro-life opportunity – perhaps bigger than we realize.
We will never give up on protecting all children in law, and our elected leaders – at every level of government – must never rest until this is accomplished. The question now is how to best accomplish that goal.
How do we protect as many mothers and children, while working to rebuild a culture of life?
Because of the moral significance of abortion, it’s easy to think of solving the abortion question in a singular way. Ever since the Supreme Court unleashed abortion on the nation, we’ve worked in hope for the day when the Supreme Court or Congress might restore the nation to where we were prior to Roe v. Wade.
But that was over 50 years ago.
Today we are confronted with the wreckage of decades of the culture of death, with sex outside of marriage considered the norm, marriage rates in free fall, and the lowest birthrate in history. More significantly, we’ve grown accustomed to solving our social problems with drugs, vaccines, therapeutics, and even surgeries (trans anyone?).
So here is where I hope – and aim to work with RFK – to build a culture of life.
Many Catholics tell me how much they love RFK’s MAHA message. But they don’t trust him on abortion. Fair enough (see above). But I’ve also come to realize that the “MAHA” enthusiasm is premised on a fundamental principle: that the dignity and health of every child deserves our attention.
And who is harming our kids?
Big government, big tech, big pharma, and big corporations that treat our children like commodities.
They won’t admit it, but Big Abortion has used this unholy alliance to profit and exploit mothers and children. Unwanted children are merely disposable medical waste. Take this pill. Schedule this surgery. And all your problems will disappear. The abortion industry has profited massively on the industrialization of humanity complex – and needs to be busted up.
If RFK is successful, not only will children be healthier, but I believe we will have made serious progress toward rebuilding the kinds of structural cultural changes necessary to ultimately end abortion in America.
Yes, I believe they are related.
This week RFK was selected by President-elect Trump to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services. He will soon face the U.S. Senate for confirmation, where he will be forced to answer some important questions on abortion funding, conscience, religious liberty, and abortion drugs.
We will vigorously oppose any HHS effort to expand or promote abortion. But we are also confident that the reforms RFK has proposed can lead to a rethinking of the entire food, medical, and drug industry that enables our tragic abortion-minded culture.
We need more transparency on all medicines, drugs and vaccines – especially so-called abortion drugs.
And we need more accountability of both the government bureaucrats and drugmakers that are profiting massively off this system.
If there is evidence of harm, it’s time to unleash the lawyers!
We need an HHS Secretary willing to take on the “health” cartels which enable the culture of death.
Is RFK up to the job?
Can we trust him?
We’re committed to helping him in every way we can – while holding him accountable.
LifeNews Note: Brian Burch is the president of CatholicVote. This opinion column does not necessarily reflect the views of LifeNews.com
