Duckworth, Warren Press Trump Health Nominee Dr. Oz on Dangerous Anti-Abortion Views
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Today, U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) pressed Dr. Mehmet Oz, President Trump’s nominee for the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), on his hostile anti-abortion record as his nominee process begins. If confirmed as CMS Administrator, Dr. Oz would be in charge of Medicare, Medicaid and Affordable Care Act (ACA) coverage, exercising broad authority over reproductive health care access.
“Leaving the issue of women’s reproductive freedom to the whims of local officials — a position you have consistently expressed is dangerous and has already produced a patchwork of abortion laws across the country, creating legal confusion, harms to public health, and vast disparities in access to care,” wrote the Senators.
Dr. Oz has a hostile record on abortion that raises serious concerns about how he might use his role at CMS to slash or eliminate access to critical reproductive health care. Dr. Oz praised the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, has described himself as “100% pro-life” and has stated that he looks “forward to supporting” anti-abortion policy. Notably, he also said that a woman’s decision to get an abortion should be up to “women, doctors [and] local political leaders [emphasis added]”—a particularly concerning comment on women’s health.
“Given the role CMS plays in shaping reproductive health care access, the CMS Administrator will cause grave damage if they do not stand firmly in defense of women’s reproductive rights. Yet throughout your career, you have staunchly opposed abortion, which makes it difficult to believe you would take women’s sexual and reproductive health seriously,” the Senators concluded.
Given Dr. Oz’s alarming record on reproductive rights, the lawmakers demanded answers to a series of questions about how he would use CMS authorities to impact reproductive health care access if confirmed to serve as its Administrator.
The letter came just before the Senate vote on Robert F. Kennedy’s confirmation to serve as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In his confirmation hearing, Kennedy said: “I agree with President Trump that every abortion is a tragedy…I’m going to implement his policies.”
In his first three weeks in office, Donald Trump has already worked to roll back women’s reproductive rights. Trump signed a slew of executive orders undoing Biden-era protections and reinstating harmful policies implemented in his first term. The Trump Administration also scrubbed critical information from government websites, eliminated HHS’s Interagency Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access and revoked guidance directing CMS and HHS to increase access to abortion services.
The full text of the letter is available on Senator Duckworth’s website.
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