Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said on Tuesday that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told him that he has come to an agreement with President-elect Trump on the issue of abortion, concluding that the matter will be left to the states to decide.
Speaking to reporters after his meeting with Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Resources (HHS), Tuberville recounted their discussion on abortion and recalled asking Kennedy about his past positions in support of abortion rights.
Tuberville said Kennedy’s view is that “whatever President Trump” decides about abortion, “I’m going to back him 100 percent.”
Tuberville noted that Trump’s position is against abortion, with three exceptions. The president-elect has previously said exceptions to abortion restrictions are “very important,” including for the life of the mother, rape and incest.
Recalling his discussion with Kennedy, Tuberville said, “I just asked him, ‘In the past you’ve been pro-abortion,’ and he said, well, it’s basically, he and President Trump have sat down and talked about it, and both of them came to an agreement, ‘Hey, Roe-Wade is gone, it’s gone to the states, let the people vote on it.’”
“And that’s been mine all along,” Tuberville said about his own views on abortion. “I’m pro-life, but I am glad the American citizens have a chance to vote in their state, and he’s the same way.”
Tuberville emerged from the meeting with Kennedy on Tuesday saying, “It went good, very positive. He’s upbeat,” adding that it was “fun to talk to him about his family.”
Tuberville said he also spoke to Kennedy about farmers in Alabama and that while they’re “very concerned about food and food safety,” the government should “not go overboard where we can’t have good crops. And I can understand that, and he’s very on board.”
“He understand our farmers are in trouble, and we want to make sure that we have farmers that can make a living, and we don’t lose our family farms,” Tuberville said.