Where does RFK Jr. stand on abortion? It doesn’t seem like even he knows.

Kennedy said he would support a nationwide 15-week ban, but then changed his mind. He’s also said that he believes the choice of whether or not to have an abortion should stay between women and their doctors while simultaneously touting his plan to “reduce abortion” and “make it easier for women to choose life.” 

For millions of Americans, the 2024 presidential election is about reproductive rights.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have been firm, declaring that if reelected and given a Democratic-controlled House and Senate, they’ll “restore Roe v. Wade,” while former president Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, have done the opposite—celebrating Roe’s reversal and supporting extreme state-level abortion bans.

But for longshot, independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., abortion has been a bit of a murky subject.

On his campaign website, Kennedy declares that “abortion is one of the most divisive issues in American politics.” Kennedy rarely mentions abortion while out campaigning, and when he does, he sends mixed signals.

Kennedy has said that he believes the choice of whether or not to have an abortion should stay between women and their doctors, but during a visit to the Iowa State Fair in Aug. 2023, Kennedy said that he would support a 15-week federal abortion ban. He then said that he would not personally restrict abortion, but that he thinks “states have a right to protect a child once the child becomes viable.”

His campaign has since said that he would not sign a nationwide ban and he’s largely declined to address the issue publicly. Kennedy has mentioned abortion just twice in the 11 speeches and campaign events that appear on his official YouTube page.

One of the only campaign events he’s hosted that focused on abortion was held in October at an Atlanta facility founded by Angela Stanton King—a facility that encourages women to carry their pregnancies to term.

King, an anti-abortion and criminal justice activist and former Trump supporter, was pardoned by the former president for her role in a car theft ring, and has repeated false claims that abortion providers systematically target Black women.

Since that event, Kennedy has repeated Stanton’s false claims several times. He’s also repeated disinformation that Black women receive the vast majority of abortions and that most abortion clinics exist in Black communities.

In reality, in the District of Columbia, New York City, and the 31 states that reported racial and ethnic data on abortion to the CDC in 2021, 42% of all women who had abortions were non-Hispanic Black, 30% were non-Hispanic White, 22% were Hispanic, and 6% were of other races.

Furthermore, 2015 data from Planned Parenthood shows that less than 4% of its clinics that provide abortions are located in communities where more than one-third of the population is Black. Data from 2019 also shows that 56% of Planned Parenthood’s health centers are in rural, medically underserved communities or where there are shortages of health professionals.

Kennedy’s campaign has since said that he misspoke when repeating these claims.

Even Kennedy himself doesn’t seem to know what he would do regarding abortion if he did somehow make it to the White House. In February, a Washington Post reporter asked him how he would protect reproductive rights if he were elected president, to which he responded: “I don’t know, you tell me. What should I be doing?”

“He’s trying to avoid what’s probably the most salient issue right now,” Roy Behr, the author of “Third Parties in America: Citizen Response to Major Party Failure,” told The Post when discussing Kennedy’s flip-flopping positions.

The Kennedy campaign seems to agree with this take.

“Mr. Kennedy does not want to add fuel to the fire,” campaign spokeswoman Stefanie Spear wrote in an email provided to The Post.

Kennedy has offered one plan that he’s tried to portray as an answer to the question of his stance on abortion, but is only loosely related: his “More Choices, More Life,” plan.

The centerpiece of Kennedy’s plan is “a massive subsidized daycare initiative.” He plans to “safeguard women’s reproductive rights” by “redirecting the funds being spent on the war in Ukraine to subsidize community- and home-based daycares, along with stay-at-home parents.” He additionally wants to strengthen adoption infrastructure, increase the child tax credit, and “fund sanctuaries for women in need to have babies.”

These plans, he says on his website, will ultimately “reduce abortion” and “make it easier for women to choose life.”

When contacted for comment on this piece, Kennedy’s press team copy and pasted nearly the entire abortion platform listed on his campaign website, which can be read here. No other comment was provided.