Conservatives oppose the confirmation of Xavier Becerra to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

No federal agency has more influence over policies relating to the sanctity of life, human dignity, and religious liberty than HHS. Becerra has a troubling record on all of these fronts. He is an extremist nominee who will carry the agendas of liberal dark money groups to his administration post if confirmed.

As a former Member of Congress, Becerra voted against a ban on partial-birth abortion, against making it a crime to hurt an unborn child during the perpetration of another crime, and against efforts to bar minors from being driven across state lines for an abortion without parental consent. He has consistently voted in favor of taxpayer-funded abortions.

Later, as California’s attorney general, he repeatedly prosecuted journalist and pro-life activist David Daleiden on behalf of Planned Parenthood. Becerra led lawsuits against the Trump administration, calling it a “gag order” when an HHS rule was revised to bar federally funded contraceptive clinics and doctors from encouraging abortion or providing abortion referrals. Even after losing the case, Becerra vowed to “continue to fight for comprehensive reproductive healthcare, including safe and legal abortion.”

Becerra also spent years using the courts to torment an order of Catholic nuns, the Little Sisters of the Poor, to try and force them to pay for abortifacients against their religious faith. He carried out similar measures in California, where he sued the federal government to protect a California regulation forcing churches to pay for abortions in their health care plans.

Such actions are consistent with Becerra’s distorted view of religious liberty, which he has stated he believes is “for the individual,” and that organizations or institutions staking a claim to religious liberty is “bootstrapping the First Amendment.” Becerra’s advocated for one-sided restrictions prohibiting churches from meeting indoors, while grocery and liquor stores remained open. The Supreme Court struck down these restrictions in December.

Becerra has also displayed dubious judgment. As Attorney General of California, he was accused multiple times of using his office to tip the scales in favor of Planned Parenthood and other political allies. In 2020, the state district attorneys faulted him for failing to do more to stop a massive fraud in California’s unemployment benefits.

Becerra also focused on “environmental justice” as California’s Attorney General, filing dozens of lawsuits opposing the Trump administration’s de-regulatory agenda regarding climate and energy. In California, he created an environmental justice bureau – not to focus on the state’s environmental concerns, but to focus the “unequal” effect pollution and environmental damage on certain vulnerable communities. President Biden has indicated that each executive agency will focus on climate regardless of statutory remit, and Becerra is thus likely to engage an aggressive climate agenda outside of the purview of HHS.

Becerra has shown neither the judgment, character, or respect for human life necessary to lead the agency with such influence over the foundational rights of all Americans. Under his watch, we believe HHS – an agency that should protect human life, dignity, and enshrine the values of religious liberty – would be weaponized toward partisan and destructive ends.

For all these reasons, we urge the Senate to firmly reject his confirmation.

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