Independent candidate for president Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has changed his stance on abortion once again, saying that he supports abortion up until a certain point rather than at full term.
Following pressure from campaign staff, Kennedy announced late Friday that he was walking back his stance of supporting full-term abortions in a statement released on X. 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, he said.
Once the baby is viable outside the womb, it should have rights and it deserves societys protection, he added.
Kennedys latest shake-up on where he stands on the divisive issue came after he said last week that he would allow women to have abortions at full term.
During an interview with podcaster Sage Steele, a former ESPN host, Kennedy was asked what the limit should be for women to have an abortion. Should there be a limit or are you saying all the way up to full term, a woman has a right to have an abortion? Steele asked.
Kennedy answered that he didnt think anyone would want to do that at eight months of pregnancy, but abortion should be out of the hands of the government and in the hands of women.
Even if its full-term, Kennedy said in response to a follow-up question. I dont think its ever OK, he added. When Steele said that would allow late-term abortions, Kennedy said, I think we have to leave it to the women rather than the state.
The answer left his running mate Nicole Shanahan surprised during her sit-down interview with Steele, released a week prior.
My understanding with Bobbys position is that, you know, every abortion is a tragedy, is a loss of life, Shanahan said. My understanding is that he absolutely believes in limits on abortion, and weve talked about this. I do not think, I dont know where that came from.
Shanahan went on to say, That is not my understanding of his position and I think maybe there was a miscommunication there.
Yeah the voters avaialble to him really weren't going for that. >_>