Mehmet Oz, Trump’s pick to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, walked back his previous liberal views on abortion and child ‘gender transitions’ in a letter to Sen. Josh Hawley.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) -- Senate confirmation proceedings are underway for Dr. Mehmet Oz, President Donald Trump’s choice for Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) administrator, who has declared in writing his opposition to abortion and underage gender “transitioning,” addressing concerns over past statements that could have hindered his chances of confirmation.
“Dr. Oz will work closely with [Health & Human Services Secretary] Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to take on the illness industrial complex, and all the horrible chronic diseases left in its wake,” Trump said in November of Oz, a former TV personality and longtime friend Trump backed in 2022 for an unsuccessful Senate bid.
Last month, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) questioned Oz’s positions on life and gender issues, with a letter asking both for more detail on his current positions and how he would act on them once in charge of CMS.
On March 31, Hawley shared a detailed written reply he received from Oz, in which he said, “[s]ince I hosted the Dr. Oz show, medical research on this topic has shown that previous clinical approaches were not sufficiently evidence-based” (though they always involved mutilating children in the futile attempt to change their sex).
The reply added that Oz would support Trump’s executive orders against funding underage "transitions" and males in female athletics and that he would work with Kennedy to “publish a review of the existing literature on best practices for promoting the health of children who assert gender dysphoria, rapid-onset gender dysphoria, or other identity-based confusion.”
On the subject of abortion, Oz described himself as “unequivocally pro-life” and “look[ing] forward to advancing a pro-life agenda at CMS.” He agreed with overturning Roe v. Wade, supported excluding abortionists from Medicaid, and said CMS can “simultaneously enforce EMTALA and respect the many state laws protecting the unborn and the right of conscience in healthcare,” referring to the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, which the Biden administration interpreted as requiring hospitals to commit “emergency” abortions.
The answers mark a sharp departure from past statements by the nominee. As recently as 2019, Oz had attacked abortion bans predicated on the presence of unborn babies' heartbeats, on the false grounds that “they’re electrical changes at six weeks, but the heart’s not beating,” as well as suggested that Roe saved women from largely-mythical “coat hanger” abortions and framed his “personal” opposition to abortion as distinct from what the law should be.
READ: Think unborn babies are just ‘clumps of cells’? These videos will make you think again
In 2010, Oz emerged as a critical, early backer of “transitioning” gender-confused minors, running an hour-long special about “transgender children” that promoted a 15-year-old girl who had undergone a double mastectomy at age 14 and an eight-year-old boy being raised as a girl named “Josie.”
The episode featured Chicago pediatrician and transgender activist Dr. Robert Garofalo, who encouraged parents to disregard medical professionals and give gender-confused children highly dangerous, off-label hormone drugs and “sex change” surgeries before they turn 16. Garofalo credited his Dr. Oz appearance as a breakthrough for his career that led him to shift his focus specifically to experimental transgender drugs and surgeries for children.
Over the course of the 2022 campaign, Oz backtracked on both issues, declaring himself “100% Pro-Life” and denying that he supported "transitioning" minors, claiming that his hosting of the opposite position did not constitute endorsement.
However, Oz strongly endorsed homosexual "marriage" and Democrats' pro-homosexual "Respect for Marriage Act" on the campaign trail.
Ultimately, the latest letter was enough to win Hawley’s support. "On this basis, I will vote to confirm him,” the senator told Fox News Monday. “Now that I am confident that he has moved away from his previous positions, and he's moved into alignment with the president, I feel comfortable voting for him.”
