Mike Pence Calls On RFK Jr. To Step Down

Mike Pence on Monday called for Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to resign amid controversy over how Kennedy has handled the department’s safety review of the abortion pill.

“Secretary Kennedy should step aside and give President Trump the opportunity to select a new HHS Secretary who will deliver pro-life results for the American people!” the former vice president said in a Monday statement.

Advancing American Freedom Foundation, a right-wing political organization founded by Pence, released a memo on Monday detailing why Kennedy should step down, and painted the HHS secretary as a “progressive wolf in pro-life sheep’s clothing.”

“Republicans gave RFK Jr a chance and he has failed,” the memo, first reported by Real Clear Politics, reads. “RFK Jr was confirmed under the belief that he would protect vulnerable women and children ― not to pursue four more years of progressive pro-abortion policies at HHS. RFK Jr. must go.”

Kennedy and Marty Makary, the head of the Food and Drug Administration, announced in June that the agency would conduct a new assessment of the abortion pill mifepristone despite the drug’s 25-year safety record. The decision to review mifepristone came after a monthslong pressure campaign from anti-abortion groups who argue that mifepristone is dangerous and should be much harder to access.

"Republicans gave RFK Jr. a chance and he has failed,” a new memo from Mike Pence's political organization reads.

Associated Press

Last week, Pence joined a chorus of anti-abortion organizations calling for Makary to step down in the wake of a Bloomberg report alleging the commissioner is slow-walking a review of mifepristone.

Pence’s new demand for Kennedy to step down further solidifies the growing divide on the right between devout anti-abortion Evangelicals and the Trump administration. President Donald Trump ― who once bragged about appointing the three conservative Supreme Court Justices that repealed Roe v. Wade ― changed his tune on abortion ahead of the 2025 presidential election and has since attempted to appear middle of the road on reproductive health issues.

The White House defended Makary in a statement to HuffPost last week. “FDA Commissioner Marty Makary is working diligently to ensure that Americans have the best possible, Gold Standard Science study of mifepristone,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai told HuffPost.

The White House did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment on Pence calling for Kennedy to also step down.

Decades of research show that mifepristone is extremely safe and effective when used in a two-drug regimen with another medication called misoprostol. When used together, mifepristone and misoprostol are more than 95% effective.

Abortion rights groups, including major mainstream medical organizations, have argued that the safety review of mifepristone is politically motivated to further restrict abortion access in the U.S. Abortion opponents advocating for the review have largely pointed to a junk science report published earlier this year by an anti-abortion think tank. Advancing American Freedom included the report in their Monday memo as the basis for the mifepristone safety review.