NASW Opposed Kennedy Appointment as HHS Secretary but "Will Engage ... to Ensure Social Workers' Voices Are Heard" Despite the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy as Health and Human Services secretary, whom NASW strongly opposed, the organization will “engage with HHS leadership to ensure that social workers’ voices are heard in policy decisions affecting health care, mental health, and social services; advocate for robust funding for programs that support social workers and the communities they serve; and hold leadership accountable to uphold public health, science-based policy, and social justice,” according to a media release. 

NASW noted that Kennedy “holds many controversial opinions on health and promoted several scientifically debunked claims such as vaccines cause autism, fluoride is poisoning the public water system, and AIDS isn’t caused by HIV.” The organization also voiced concern after Kennedy responded “alarmingly when senators questioned him about the hundreds of community health clinics that HHS funds in cities across the country or the role the department plays in a federal law that mandates emergency room doctors to stabilize anyone who presents at their facility.” 

Namely, he said he did not know he would have oversight over the latter and would follow the policies of President Trump. He also had flipped from his longtime pro-choice stance on abortion care up to full term to instead supporting abortion only after "viability" and when a state agrees with that. 

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