The Biden era of confirmation fights was never easy, but Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s path to running the nation’s health department is turning into something even more combustible: a referendum on science itself.

Kennedy, now serving as Health and Human Services secretary, is due before the Senate Finance Committee this week to defend President Trump’s health care agenda for 2026. On paper, the hearing is about policy priorities. In reality, it’s shaping up as an accountability session for Kennedy’s most controversial moves so far — including the abrupt firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez, the narrowing of access to the Covid-19 vaccine, and his decision to populate the CDC’s outside vaccine advisory panel with his own handpicked members.

Six Democratic representatives, all doctors, came forward to call for Kennedy’s resignation. In a joint letter, they accused him of betraying his confirmation pledge to “follow the science” on vaccines and instead pushing policies that undermine trust in medicine.

Representative Kelly Morrison of Minnesota, an OB-GYN who has spent more than two decades in practice, took the case public in sharper terms on Capitol Hill. Morrison said Kennedy poses a “direct and dire threat” to women’s health in particular, pointing to his statements on abortion pills and his long record of disparaging the HPV vaccine.

“In his confirmation hearing last week, RFK Jr. vowed to implement ‘whatever’ position President Trump takes on regulating abortion pills,” Morrison said. “Decades of research and clinical experience have demonstrated that mifepristone is safe. Its safety is undisputed by medical experts. Yet Kennedy has opened the door to pulling it from the market entirely — even in states where abortion is legal.”

The stakes, she argued, could not be higher. About 90 percent of all abortions occur early in pregnancy, and more than half of those are medication abortions. Taking mifepristone off the shelves would function as a de facto national ban.

Morrison also raised alarms about Kennedy’s history with the HPV vaccine, which prevents most cervical cancers. Kennedy has called it “dangerous and defective” and supported lawsuits targeting its manufacturers. “How could we ever have a Secretary of Health and Human Services who is attacking one of our most successful efforts to prevent cancer in women and girls?” Morrison asked.

Kennedy’s allies argue he is restoring “trust” in public health by questioning pharmaceutical power and loosening government mandates. But critics say his early tenure looks less like reform and more like sabotage. Monarez, in her Wall Street Journal op-ed last week, described her ouster as punishment for refusing to “compromise science itself.” Senators in both parties have said they expect Kennedy to explain why he replaced her with loyalists and sidelined outside expertise.

For now, the clash is both political and personal. Kennedy holds one of the most powerful jobs in Washington, in charge of decisions that shape the health of millions. His opponents, including Morrison and her colleagues, say those decisions are already falling short of the standard every patient deserves: leadership that is guided by evidence, not ideology.