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.

Follow The Post’s live updates from Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation hearing in his bid to lead the US Department of Health and Human Services, amid fierce opposition from some family members

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

HHS announced plans to reevaluate agency practices to ensure they meet requirements under the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funds from being used for elective abortions.