Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stated in an interview released Wednesday that abortions at full-term were okay with him.
Podcaster and former ESPN host Sage Steele began by asking Kennedy on The Sage Steele Show, “Should there be a limit or you’re saying all the way up to full term, a woman has a right to have an abortion?”
“I don’t think any woman through history has ever said I’m going to have a baby; I’m going to get pregnant and carry that baby to eight months of term and then I’m gonna terminate the pregnancy,” Kennedy answered. “I don’t think anybody wants to do that.”
“That has happened too many times to count though,” Steele suggested.
“I’m sure that has happened; I would say that in almost all those cases there’s extenuating circumstances,” Kennedy surmised.
“But who knows? Especially when there’s drugs involved and people aren’t thinking clearly. At the end of the day, it is happening,” Steele said.
“What I’m saying is I don’t think any woman sets out saying, ‘I’m going to carry a baby for eight months and abort him,’” Kennedy responded.
“Sure, but they could change their minds at eight months. And this is what they’ve seen. So should they be allowed to do it full-term?” Steele asked.
“Again, I respect people who — I think there’s a very, very good argument, a compelling argument that the state has [an] interest in protecting a fully-formed fetus; I absolutely think that that argument is very convincing,” Kennedy declared. “Again, I’m down to the fact that I don’t trust the state and I think we need to trust the woman. And I don’t think that that’s a satisfactory outcome, because I think there’s always gonna be instances where bad things happen.”
“Yes, we can’t prevent that,” Steele acknowledged.
“Either way, there’s gonna be bad things that happen,” Kennedy said.
“So, in other words, keeping it as is, with Roe v. Wade having been overturned and leaving it up to the states to determine if and when a woman can have an abortion?” Steele asked.
“No, I wouldn’t leave it to the states,” Kennedy said.
“You would say completely, it’s up to the woman —” Steele began.
“I would say it’s up to the woman,” Kennedy interjected. “We shouldn’t have government involved.”
“Even if it’s full-term?” Steele asked.
“Even if it’s full-term,” Kennedy concluded.
Last year, Kennedy Jr. told NBC News he’d support a national abortion ban after the first three months of pregnancy, but hours later reversed himself, saying, “I believe a decision to abort a child should be up to the women during the first three months of life.”