Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced about 3.5 hours of questioning on topics including his past comments on vaccines and abortion during the first of his two confirmation hearings.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Monday signaled that it planned to prioritize the enforcement of religious protections. | HHS on Monday signaled that it planned to prioritize the enforcement of religious protections.

It marks one of Kennedy’s clearest public statements on abortion since being nominated to lead the nation’s health department.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s alternating views on vaccines, reproductive rights and public health issues were a central focus at his first confirmation hearing Wednesday, with Democratic senators expressing dismay at his nomination and Republicans signaling he’ll likely have their support.

RFK Jr. is back on the Hill for a second day of testimony, this time before a different Senate committee, after a first round that was contentious but saw no GOP defections.

RFK Jr.'s confirmation hearings continue today as he appears before a second Senate committee. Follow STAT's live updates.

Senate Democrats grilled Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over his various controversial statements including his stance on vaccines during his confirmation hearing to be President Donald Trump’s health and human services secretary,

The longtime liberal faces deep skepticism over his public health views. “Frankly, you frighten people,” one Democratic senator told his former roommate.

Anti-abortion advocates have expressed concern but not opposition to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nomination as Health and Human Services secretary, despite his previous support for abortion rights.

Trump’s nominee for HHS secretary said he supported policies that restrict abortion and said he didn’t know whether federal law allows emergency abortions in states that ban the procedure.

Kennedy Jr. scrapped with senators for more than four hours Wednesday, trying to defend everything from his “conflicting” claims on vaccines to his stance on abortion to past statements that the virus causing COVID-19 was “ethnically targeted” against black and Caucasian people.