Sanders, the senior minority party member on the committee, pressed Kennedy to concede that health care was a human right, as his father, Robert F. Kennedy, and his uncles, John F. Kennedy and Edward Kennedy, had done. Kennedy again did not give a definitive answer.

Two protesters erupted in the Senate on Wednesday morning as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced questions about his qualifications to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. The first came just as Kennedy was reading his opening statement,

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confronted with a number of his baseless claims and a vexing abortion issue. But Republican senators treaded lightly.

The health committee chairman, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., also has expressed concerns about Kennedy's anti-vaccine work. A physician, Cassidy said earlier this month he “had a frank conversation” and “spoke about vaccines at length” with Kennedy. On Tuesday, Cassidy told reporters that he is still unsure if he is backing Trump’s nominee.

The answers you have given tell me that the Trump administration is more than willing to restrict or even ban medication abortion without a single act of Congress and even in states where abortion is legal,