A prominent US presidential contender has performed a sudden U-turn on his support for abortion up to birth.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr, an independent candidate who says he is a Catholic, has backtracked over his endorsement of abortions up to birth in the face of widespread criticism.
A nephew of Democrat President John F. Kennedy and the third child of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, both of whom were assassinated, he said he no longer backed “full-term abortion” on demand.
Instead, he said he believes that abortion should be available but subject to an upper time limit of 23 or 24 weeks.
In remarks on the <em>Sage Steele Show</em>, he said he did not think “it’s ever OK” to abort a child close to birth but added that he believed “nobody sets out to do that and there are always some kind of extenuating circumstances that would make a mother make that kind of choice”.
But two days after his comments, he said on <em>X</em>, the platform formerly known as <em>Twitter</em>, that if elected he “would allow appropriate restrictions on abortion in the final months of pregnancy”.
He said: “Abortion has been a notoriously divisive issue in America, but actually I see an emerging consensus – abortion should be legal up until a certain number of weeks and restricted thereafter.”
His comments came just days before a <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/abortion-vote-on-15-may-is-a-time-to-raise-our-voices-and-not-lose-heart/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">vote on two amendments by Labour MPs in the UK Parliament</mark> </a>that would <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/the-no-to-abortion-up-to-birth-rally-whats-at-stake-this-may-15/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">permit abortion up to birth</mark></a>.
At present, the United States is one of only eight countries in the world – including North Korea, Vietnam and China – where abortion is permitted without an upper time limit.
Mr Kennedy has said he believed it was wrong to regulate abortion with criminal law because he did not wish to take “painful decisions” away from a mother.
“I had been assuming that virtually all late-term abortions were such cases, but I’ve learned that my assumption was wrong,” he said in comments reported by <em>Catholic News Agency</em>. “Sometimes, women abort healthy, viable late-term foetuses. These cases of purely ‘elective’ late-term abortion are very upsetting."
He added: “Once the baby is viable outside the womb, it should have rights and it deserves society’s protection.”
Mr Kennedy said he reappraised his position after he listened to his “family, advisers, supporters and others who shared their perspectives”.
US President Joe Biden, a Democrat, is <mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-black-color">aggressively pro-abortion even though he regularly publicises himself as a practising Catholic</mark>, which has drawn him <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/biden-in-worse-trouble-than-trump-with-catholic-voters-especially-if-they-go-to-mass/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">significant criticism from US Church leaders and Catholics in the US</mark></a>.
Former US President Donald Trump, who is likely to be confirmed as the Republican presidential nominee, has said that <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/donald-trump-says-his-goal-is-cross-party-abortion-compromise-that-includes-exceptions/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">he is in favour of individual American states</mark></a> passing their own laws about abortion.
Abortion up to birth was legalised in the United States under the Roe v. Wade judgment of 1973. Since the ruling was overturned by the US Supreme Court two years ago, more than 20 American states have introduced restrictions of varying degrees on access to abortion.<br><br>It increasingly appears that the issue will <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/will-the-abortion-issue-decide-us-election/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">play a prominent role</mark></a> in the forthcoming US election. <br><br><em>Photo: Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announcing he will run for president as an independent at a press conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, 9 October 2023. (Photo by Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images.)</em>
