Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been tapped to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), may see his position on abortion backfire in Senate confirmation hearings, according to conservative pundit Scott Jennings.

Kennedy endorsed the president-elect Donald Trump after suspending his independent presidential campaign in August while promising to help Trump “make America healthy again.” Trump named Kennedy as his pick for HHS secretary on Thursday.

The appointment immediately sparked controversy, especially because Kennedy could oversee the nation’s health infrastructure, despite his long history of anti-vaccine activism and other questionable positions on health and medicine.

Jennings, former adviser to the former president George W. Bushsaid during a CNN appearance Thursday night that Kennedy would likely be discussed on his vaccine stance, but could also expect to be criticized by “pro-lifers” in the Senate who do not approve of his support for abortion rights.

“I’m sure vaccines will be the biggest flashpoint of the hearings,” Jennings said. “He will have a chance to answer for these statements and the senators will have to decide whether that is satisfactory to them or not.”

“Another political issue: I think pro-lifers are a little weird right now,” he continued. “If I were Trump’s people, I would come up with something proactive to avoid that, because I think these attacks are coming.”

Newsweek reached out to Trump’s office for comment by email Thursday evening.

Although it is far from clear that Kennedy risks being blocked from confirmation in the Senate, which will be 53 to 47. Republican majority in January, some conservatives indicated that his position on abortion could pose a problem.

Philip Klein, editor of National Review Online – the digital version of the conservative magazine national magazine, argued that naming “pro-abortion RFK Jr.” would be “a monumental disaster” in an article published Thursday.

Klein urged Republican senators to “do their job” by rejecting both Matt Gaetz— whom Trump nominated as the next US attorney general despite investigations into alleged sexual misconduct and illegal drug use — and Kennedy for saying he supported “long-term abortion” earlier this year.

In an interview in May, Kennedy told podcaster Sage Steele that she favors abortion rights “even if it’s full-term,” arguing that the decision should be “women’s rather than the state’s.”

Kennedy backtracked a week later, saying in a statement shared on social media that he believed “abortion should be unrestricted” only until “the child is viable outside the womb.”

In addition to angering conservatives for favoring abortion rights, Kennedy has drawn criticism from the political left for sometimes expressing support for abortion restrictions.

Late last month, after Trump pledged to allow Kennedy to “work at“women’s health issues, the vice president’s presidential campaign Kamala Harris shared a video of Kennedy voicing his support for a national ban on three-month abortions in a post for X, previously Twitter.

Kennedy’s abortion ban comment during a briefing NBC The August 2023 news interview was quick went backthe then-Democratic presidential candidate’s campaign saying he “misunderstood” the question.