Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a new interview that women should be allowed to decide on having an abortion even if the baby is "full-term."
Podcaster Sage Steele asked Kennedy what the cutoff should be for women to obtain an abortion.
"Should there be a limit or are you saying all the way up through full term, a woman has a right to have an abortion?" the former ESPN host asked.
Kennedy responded that he doesn't think anyone would want to have an abortion in the eighth month of pregnancy, but said the decision should be made by women and not the government.
Steele then asked Kennedy if he agrees with the standard set by Roe v. Wade or with the question of abortion being decided by the states, with Kennedy again stating that the decision should be left up to the mother.
"Even if it's full-term," Kennedy said, responding to a follow-up question. "I don't think it's ever OK," he added.
Steele pointed out that Kennedy's answer would permit late-term abortions.
"I think we have to leave it to the women rather than the state," Kennedy said.
His comments seemed to surprise running mate Nicole Shanahan, who was featured in a podcast episode with Steele a week before the release of Kennedy's interview with the host.
Steele asked if she agreed with Kennedy's stance that a woman should be able to seek an abortion, even if the baby is full-term.
"My understanding with Bobby's 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 we've talked about this. I do not think, I don't know where that came from.
"That is not my understanding of his position, and I think maybe there was a miscommunication there," she added.
The vice presidential candidate shared her own position on abortion in a post on X on Thursday.
"I will speak personally," Shanahan wrote. "As a mom, and a person with a womb, I don't like the feeling of anyone having control over my body. It is coercive. It is wrong. But, I am also a woman that would not feel right terminating a viable life living inside of me, especially if I am both healthy and that baby is healthy. I can hold both beliefs, as someone who believes in the sacredness of life, simultaneously."
Nicole Wells ✉
Nicole Wells, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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