As attention turns this week to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation hearings to lead Health and Human Services (HHS) — a position that will make enormous health policy decisions impacting millions of families — his history of vaccine skepticism and peddling health-related conspiracy theories is expected to take center stage.

Among those most closely watching the hearings? Moms.

Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, one of those mothers, is the executive director and co-founder of MomsRising, an organization that advocates for policies like paid family and medical leave and affordable child care. The group has been rallying its million-plus members to contact their senators to halt Kennedy’s confirmation. Among Rowe-Finkbeiner’s concerns are Kennedy’s spread of conspiracy theories, including falsely claiming that drinking water contributes to “sexual dysphoria” in children and claims that vaccines cause autism (they don’t). He reportedly tried to stop the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines at the height of the pandemic, falsely claiming the risks outweighed the benefits. Kennedy also has no medical or science degree, nor executive experience that Rowe-Finkbeiner believes are necessary to run one of the federal government’s largest agencies.

“RFK Jr.’s nomination is one that stands out for moms who are working hard to raise healthy children,” she said. “Who are having to explain to their children — using RFK Jr. as an example — what are the negative repercussions to believing misinformation and disinformation.”

But if moms like Rowe-Finkbeiner are alarmed by Kennedy’s ascension, there is another group of them who are thrilled by it.

In the immediate days after the election and President Donald Trump’s announcement that he would pick Kennedy to oversee HHS, self-described “Make America Healthy Again” moms posted TikTok videos of themselves dancing.

“No more chemicals in our food just for profit! Go get em Bobby!!” wrote one in the caption.

“RFK is the biggest win for our children and their Health. Thanking God for answered prayers!” wrote another.

“I haven’t cared one bit ever in my whole life about any of these Cabinet appointments,” said one woman donning a red MAHA hat in a video she posted to her 8,500 Instagram followers in November. “Not ever, literally never. This one is different. This one feels spiritual, and I think that that’s why we’re having this visceral reaction as moms.”

The woman did not respond to The 19th’s request via email for additional comment on her views.

Kennedy’s confirmation hearings could help spotlight the political mobilization of mothers — in all their ideological facets. But it’s unclear how much that activism could sway the senators charged with vetting Kennedy.

“When, as a parent, you are frustrated or upset about something that feels out of your control because it’s a government-related decision and you feel like you don’t have a voice, it can be very powerful to mobilize mothers around that,” said Jill Greenlee, an associate professor of politics at Brandeis University who has studied the politicization of motherhood. 

Kennedy, a member of one of the most famous U.S. political dynasties, has indicated broad plans for the country’s health care system. He has worked in environmental law and led an organization that is skeptical of vaccine safety. HHS oversees the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Kennedy namechecked all of them in a video he posted when he announced plans to back Trump after dropping out of the 2024 presidential race. He and Trump, he said, would “transform our nation’s food, fitness, air, water, soil and medicine.” Among Kennedy’s promises are to replace “corrupt industry officials” while tackling chronic disease and eliminating “toxic” food additives.

“We’re going to support the tens of millions of Americans who choose alternative and complementary medicine. We’re going to become, once again, the healthiest nation under earth. That’s what we mean by MAHA — Make America Healthy Again,” he said.

In late October, Kennedy previewed potential plans to target the FDA, which he claimed has suppressed the use of psychedelics, stem cells, raw milk and unproven, off-label COVID treatments like ivermectin. Ahead of his hearings, which are slated to be held Wednesday and Thursday through two Senate committees, Kennedy submitted filings that indicated he was no longer working at the Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit that has filed multiple lawsuits since 2020 that challenge vaccines and public health mandates.

Still, his confirmation remains a question mark as he faces opposition from groups that have criticized his spreading of vaccine misinformation and at least one, led by former Vice President Mike Pence, over his previous support for abortion.

An email sent to Kennedy’s press account associated with his former presidential campaign bounced back, saying the inbox was full. A communications firm with an employee who handled some media inquiries for Kennedy during the presidential transition did not immediately respond to an email.  

Despite previews of Kennedy’s priorities, there is a vagueness to the MAHA movement that is part of its potency, said Kenicia Wright, assistant professor at Arizona State University who has studied the effects of social identities on public policy. Wright said while MAHA has been generally presented as tackling corruption and bringing transparency to people’s food and health choices, that can mean a lot of different things — especially to mothers.

“These really broad themes don’t tell us much about what’s actually going to be done, but it touches enough on those identities that are important to certain groups in society that it can mobilize them to engage in politics,” she said.

The MAHA messaging may also face some contradictory policy actions from Trump. In his first days in office, the president has announced plans to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization, a move that could impact the nation’s efforts to address a future pandemic. He also plans to withdraw the country from the Paris Agreement, which could impact ongoing efforts to address climate change. Trump also reversed executive orders by former President Joe Biden that sought to reduce prescription drug costs and paused the immediate flow of approved federal funding for programs that could impact health.

Kennedy’s promises to revamp health regulations appears to resonate with Zen Honeycutt, founder and director of Moms Across America, a nonprofit organization that advocates for “safe, healthy food and honest labeling” and encourages its supporters to launch local chapters and sign petitions aimed toward members of Congress. The organization did not respond to a general request for an interview with The 19th, but Honeycutt has made several public comments about Kennedy, who she supported for president before he dropped out and who served as an adviser to Honeycutt’s organization.

Honeycutt talks openly about becoming more politically active after changing her children’s diet to include more organic food and seeing a noticeable improvement in their autoimmune health. Honeycutt is highly critical of genetically modified crops and foods. (Three federal agencies regulate so-called GMOs.) She has also expressed skepticism about vaccines and her group’s official stance is against vaccine mandates. 

On her group’s TikTok account, she said that both Democrats and Republicans could benefit from “getting toxins out of the food supply.”

“Not only will you be healthier, you will be happier,” she said in one video. “That’s what MAHA is set out to do, and we hope that you will see this in the future with us. Let go of the past, the parties, the election and everything and create a new world with us, because we all deserve to be healthy and happy.”

Honeycutt’s political leanings vary, a sign of the umbrella of support encompassing the MAHA movement. Some so-called “crunchy moms,” a term once used to exclusively describe liberal-leaning women, have expressed support. Honeycutt cheered when Sen. Cory Booker, a Democrat, introduced a bill last year aiming to improve the quality of children’s lunches.

Health issues, and vaccines in particular, have the power to galvanize mothers. 

“This whole issue of vaccines is coming from that same place, as is parents who are advocating for health care access for their children — be it trans children or children who need reproductive health care access,” Greenlee said. “This impulse is similar though it can take you to very different places politically depending on what you’re advocating for.”

Mothers have been a political force dating back at least 100 years, said Katie Gaddini, associate professor of sociology at University College London and a visiting scholar at Stanford University. The typical framing of mothers in activist roles paints them as wanting to protect their children who may be under some kind of threat. In recent years, politicians like Sarah Palin — a former Republican governor from Alaska and John McCain’s 2008 vice presidential candidate — supercharged this identity within politics as a “mama grizzly” who wants to protect her children.

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, parents were among key voices in advocating for more control over mask and vaccine mandates despite warnings from the medical community at the time that those measures could help reduce infections. 

“I really think the pandemic accelerated and focused the health-related concern around children,” Gaddini said.

That has accelerated at a time of low trust in the federal government, as well as dwindling trust in the media.

Aidan Smith is director of the Newcomb Scholars Program at Tulane University. She said women historically were excluded from any sort of external political engagement outside of the scope of the domestic sphere. But they had one clear lane in.

“One place where they were able to get political traction was through their roles as mothers,” she said. “And not only was that one sort of way they got their foot in the door, but it was a very successful way to gain public awareness about the particular issue they were concerned about.” 

The scope of advocacy from MAHA moms for Kennedy is still taking shape beyond multiple social media posts to large followings. Amid the inauguration programming in Washington, D.C., in late January, Honeycutt and other self-described MAHA moms appeared at a MAHA-themed party that featured remarks from Kennedy. 

While in D.C., Honeycutt stopped by congressional offices to promote the school lunches bill.  

“I think conservative women may in this moment be leaning into motherhood politics a little bit more than their liberal counterparts, although it waxes and wanes,” Smith said.

Rowe-Finkbeiner noted that health outcomes are important to mothers, many of whom make key health decisions for their families, and some of whom are low-wage workers without access to a single paid sick day.

“We need to be able to get our kids into the doctor quickly, to help get them better quickly, so that we can go to work, so our kids can thrive and we can contribute to our communities. RFK Jr. is a direct threat to that,” she said. “And moms know it. So moms are very upset and outraged.”

Lauren Mumford can understand why some mothers support Kennedy’s confirmation.

“I sympathize with mothers that just want to make the right choices for their children, that they want what’s best for them. If there’s anything I kind of agree with him on, it’s making our food healthier and our lifestyles healthier,” said the 36-year-old mom in Connecticut.

But that sympathy ends when it comes to vaccines. A few weeks ago, Mumford read a headline about an attorney for Kennedy who sought to revoke approval of the polio vaccine.

The headline upset her. She immediately thought of her 3-year-old daughter, who, like other children her age in America, is in the midst of a four-shot dosage of vaccines to prevent polio.

“I’m very concerned about having that choice to make for my child. Because I do think vaccines are important. I believe the science that supports that, and even if he doesn’t revoke any vaccines, I think he’ll legitimize a lot of this misinformation,” she said.

Mumford said if Kennedy takes specific action that impacts her daughter’s health and wellness, she is willing to switch gears, including in-person protests.

“That’s definitely the biggest change for me throughout my engagement with politics — it just hurts even more because I am a mom,” she said. “When I think of the worst case scenario, I’m thinking about my child and what world and what country she’ll grow up in. So, yeah, if things don’t go my way with his confirmation and what he chooses to do, I would definitely be fighting like hell for my child, as a mother.”

Rowe-Finkbeiner predicted that when the rubber meets the road, mothers will be “a persistent, insistent political force” as the new Trump administration rolls out policy proposals that impact children, education, care infrastructure and health care.

“Just because most moms are busy juggling work, caring for children and more — and so don’t have time to be out on the streets right now — doesn’t mean that there isn’t a tsunami of concern that is rising across the country,” she said.

In the days leading up to Kennedy’s hearings, MAHA moms upped their online messaging of support. At least one encouraged supporters to “pack the halls” for the confirmation hearings.

Moms Across America posted a picture on Instagram of Kennedy. “Don’t mess with mothers, senators.”

Correction: An earlier version of this article said the Department of Agriculture reports to the Department of Health and Human Services. That department has separate oversight.