By Ryan FoleyChristian Post Reporter Wednesday, April 24, 2024

The leading third-party candidate for President of the United States has unveiled a new position on abortion that includes a proposal to expand child care benefits, prompting mixed reactions from pro-life groups.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who is currently pursuing an independent bid for the presidency in the 2024 presidential election, released an updated platform on abortion on his website last week. The platformtitled “More Choices, More Life,” is being touted as a way to “dramatically reduce abortion in this country.”

The candidate calls for a “massive subsidized childcare initiative” while vowing to “protect women's reproductive rights”. He vows the policy will “pay 100% of care for the three million children under five who live below our poverty line” while capping the cost of childcare at “10% of family income for everyone else.”

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“These payments will not be available to corporate daycare chains or the hedge funds that own them,” the campaign explained. “They only fund single-location small businesses – as well as parents who decide to stay home with their children.”

The campaign predicted that “because economics is a major driver of abortion, this policy will do more to lower abortion rates than any coercive measure ever could.” The political proposal identifies the redirection of “funds spent on the war in Ukraine” as a way to pay for the massive undertaking.

In addition to the childcare initiative, the “More Choices, More Life” agenda calls for a strengthened “adoption infrastructure” consisting of an increased child tax credit and funding of “sanctuaries for women needing to have babies, places like Angie's House, where they receive support not only during pregnancy and birth but also in those precious months afterwards.”

The campaign claimed that the funding of such organizations will assure women that “their only 'choice' is not abortion.”

Under the policy, the campaign claimed, women will find that “they have another choice, a viable choice to give birth.” As the campaign pointed out, “Abortion is one of the most divisive issues in American politics” where Americans “are offered two positions—pro-life and pro-choice—with hardly any room between or outside of them.” Democrats, led by President Joe Biden, have embraced the “pro-choice” position, which allows women to have abortions during most or all of pregnancy.

While pro-life groups opposed to abortion have generally backed Republican former President Donald Trump in the upcoming 2024 presidential election, some pro-life activist groups have expressed concern about Trump's position that abortion should be a decision of the states. Pro-life organizations offered different reactions to the Kennedy campaign's recently unveiled abortion policy.

Brian Burch, president of the pro-life activist group CatholicVote, reacted to the political proposal of the candidate in statement published on Tuesday. “RFK Jr.'s abortion policy offers a stark contrast to the 'shout your abortion' extremism of the Biden campaign,” he said. “While RFK Jr. is wrong to promise to continue to protect the 'right' to destroy innocent lives, he deserves credit for not shying away from the need to help women choose life.”

“[Kennedy] also deserves credit for recognizing the unique role of stay-at-home parents by proposing that any per diem subsidies apply equally to mothers or fathers who choose to stay at home to raise their children,” he added. “Kennedy's position, although fundamentally problematic, aims in the right direction.”

In a statement shared with The Christian Post, National Right to Life President Carol Tobias emphasized that “Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., supports unlimited abortion during pregnancy and he wants taxpayers to pay for it.” She warned that “He does not believe that states should be able to protect preborn children at any stage of development and supports tax funding of Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion chain.”

“It is hypocritical, then, to pretend to care about helping women in difficult circumstances when those same women are encouraged by a culture that tells them to kill their children,” Tobias asserted. “Much better are the candidates who care and are willing to help, both mother and child.”

At the beginning of the Kennedy campaign, its official website did not contain an entire section devoted to abortion. Instead, the candidate's position on abortion was included on a page illustrating his promise to “Heal the Divide”. The campaign stated that “Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has clear positions on most of today's divisive trigger issues like abortion, guns, and immigration, but he knows that both sides have legitimate concerns and legitimate moral positions.”

“Few relish the thought of dead fetuses, nor do they want to force women to have unwanted babies,” the website stated. “Robert F. Kennedy will use the broad moral agreements under our divisions. He will model careful listening, and create conditions where each group can hear each other's stories. He will lead the way to national reconciliation, respectful dialogue, and a willingness to change, grow and forgive.”

The RealClearPolitics average of polls asking voters who they would support in a five-way race, based on surveys taken from March 27 to April 18 show Kennedy capturing 8.8% of the vote, coming in far behind Trump's 41.6% and Trump's 40.6% of Biden while finishing ahead of an independent. the 1.7% of candidate Cornel West and the 1.0% of possible Green Party candidate Jill Stein.

However, Kennedy's presence on the ballot in each of the 50 states, or lack thereof, will define the impact or success of his candidacy. As of Tuesday, the Kennedy campaign made sure voting access in nine states that boast a combined 66 electoral votes, falling short of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency: Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Utah.