Lauren Stephenson
What Neil Gorsuch Could Mean For Roe V. Wade And The Abortion Debate
The Supreme Court nominee didn't offer any hints about how he would rule on several hot-button issues.
LEARN MOREPosted: 6:14 p.m. EDT Apr 28, 2017
President Donald Trump plans to nominate a well-known anti-abortion activist to a top job at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Charmaine Yoest will be the assistant secretary of public affairs. She'll be responsible for shaping the department's communications — something she has experience doing.
Yoest was a surrogate for the Trump campaign and has made numerous TV appearances representing the pro-life organizations she's worked with.
She's a senior fellow at conservative group American Values.
Yoest was also president and CEO of Americans United for Life. It calls itself the "legal architect of the pro-life movement," offering dozens of pieces of model legislation to states.
Pro-choice groups slammed Yoest's nomination, saying she's "a danger" to reproductive reform and someone who has a "history of promoting #AlternativeFacts."
Yoest, who's a breast cancer survivor, told The New York Times Magazine in 2012 that abortions can increase a woman's chance of getting the disease. Other institutions including the National Cancer Institute say no causal link has been found. Yoest told the magazine the scientific community "is under the control of the abortion lobby."
Yoest worked in the Reagan White House and was a senior adviser to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's 2008 presidential campaign. She has a Ph.D. in American government.
