CHICAGO – As Donald Trump’s cabinet begins to take shape, advocates on both sides of the abortion debate are closely watching for clues about how her choices could affect reproductive rights politics around the world. second term of president-elect.

Trump’s Cabinet Picks offering insight into how his administration might handle abortion after repeatedly saying flip-flops on the issue in the electoral campaign. He has attempted to distance himself from anti-abortion allies by deferring to the states on abortion policy, while boasting of appointing three Supreme Court justices who helped repeal constitutional protections for of abortion in force for half a century.

In an interview broadcast Sunday on NBC News, Trump said he had no plans to restrict medication abortion, but he also appeared to leave the door open, saying “things are changing.”

“Things are changing, but I don’t think it’s going to change at all,” he said.

THE first programming of his new administrationincluding appointments to key health agencies, the Justice Department and even the Department of Veterans Affairs, has drawn mixed — but generally positive — reactions from anti-abortion groups.

Abortion rights experts said Trump’s decision to include fewer candidates with deep ties to the anti-abortion movement could indicate that abortion will not be a priority for the Trump administration.

“It almost seems to suggest that President Trump might take his administration in other directions,” said Greer Donley, an associate professor of law at the University of Pittsburgh Law School.

Karen Stone, vice president of public policy at Family Planning Action Fundsaid that while many candidates have “extensive histories against reproductive health care,” others do not. She cautioned against making assumptions based on Trump’s initial cabinet selections.

Still, many abortion rights groups are wary, in part because many candidates have strong anti-abortion views, even if they don’t have direct ties to anti-abortion activists. They fear that an administration filled with senior officials personally opposed to abortion could take steps to restrict access to the procedure and funding.

After Trump’s ambiguity on abortion during his campaign, “there’s still a lot we don’t know about what the policy will look like,” said Mary Ruth Ziegler, a law professor at the Davis School of Medicine. Law from the University of California. This approach could be revealed as staff numbers for key departments are announced.

Asset announcement he would appoint an anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, which anti-abortion forces have long seen as central to restricting abortion rights nationwide. Yet Kennedy changed the subject during his own presidential campaign.

In campaign videos, Kennedy said he supports access to abortion until viabilitywhich doctors say is after 21 weeks, although there is no set time frame. But he also said “Every abortion is a tragedy” and pleaded for a national ban after 15 weeks of pregnancy, a position to which he quickly returned.

The Health and Human Services chief oversees Title X funding for a host of family planning services and exercises considerable authority over agencies that directly affect abortion access, including the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. This role is especially vital amid legal battles over a federal law known as EMTALA, which President That of Joe Biden The administration argued it was requiring emergency abortion access nationwide and FDA approval of mifepristone, an abortion pill.

Mini Timmaraju, president of the national abortion rights organization Reproductive Freedom for All, called Kennedy “an unfit and unqualified extremist who cannot be trusted to protect the health, safety and security of the reproductive freedom of American families.

His potential nomination also caused waves within the anti-abortion movement. Former vice president Mike Pencea staunch opponent of abortion, urged the Senate to reject Kennedy’s nomination. Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the national anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said the group had its own concerns about Kennedy.

“There is no question that we need a pro-life HHS secretary,” she said.

Fox News Correspondent Marty Makary is Trump’s choice to lead the FDA, which plays a critical role in providing access to medication abortion and contraception. Abortion rights groups accused him of sharing misinformation about abortion on air.

Russell Voughta staunch anti-abortion conservative, was named director of the Office of Management and Budget. Vought was a key architect of Project 2025a right-wing project to run the federal government. Among other actions to limit reproductive rights, it calls for eliminating access to medication abortion nationwide, reducing Medicaid funding for abortion, and restricting access to contraceptive care, particularly for long-acting reversible contraceptives such as IUDs.

Even though he distanced himself from the conservative manifesto during the election campaign, Trump is supply its administration with people who played a central role in the development of Project 2025.

Trump acknowledged that the report’s writers would be part of his new administration during Sunday’s interview with NBC News, saying, “I agree with a lot of that stuff.” »

“These ministerial appointments all confirm that Project 2025 was in fact the plan all along, and the concern we saw about it was justified,” said Amy Williams Navarro, director of government relations for Reproductive Freedom for All .

Dr Mehmet OzTrump’s choice to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is a former television talk show host who was accused of peddling questionable medical treatments and products. He expressed conflicting views on abortion during his failure of the senatorial campaign in 2022.

Oz described himself as “strongly pro-life, welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision overturn Roe v. Wadestated “Life begins at conception” and called abortion a “murder.” But he also echoes Trump’s approach to states’ rights, which says the federal government should not be involved in abortion decisions.

“I want women, doctors, local political leaders, to let the democracy that has always allowed our nation to prosper, come up with the best ideas so that states can decide for themselves,” he said during from a debate in the Senate two years ago.

Many reproductive rights groups opposed his Senate bid. As CMS administrator, Oz would hold a key position in determining Medicaid coverage for family planning services and investigating potential violations of EMTALA.

As Attorney General of Florida, Pam Bondi defended abortion restrictions, including a 24-hour waiting period. Now it belongs to Trump attorney general’s choice.

Her appointment is celebrated by abortion opponents, but denounced by abortion rights groups, fearing it will revive the system. Comstock Actan anti-vice law passed by Congress in 1873 that prohibits, among other things, the mailing of drugs or instruments used for abortion.

Former anti-abortion and anti-vaccine Florida congressman, David Weldon, was chosen to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which collects and monitors abortion data across the country.

Former Republican deputy Doug Collins is Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs in a context political battle on access to abortion and funding for troops and veterans. Collins has consistently voted to restrict funding and access to abortion and celebrated the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

“This is a team that the pro-life movement can work with,” said Kristin Hawkins, president of the national anti-abortion organization Students for Life.

___

The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to improve its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. Learn more about AP’s Democratic Initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.