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, and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) is seeking answers about the TV personality’s past liberal stances on abortion and transgender issues.

“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 longtime friend Trump backed in 2022 for an unsuccessful Senate bid.

As recently as 2019, Oz had attacked abortion bans predicated on the presence of fetal heartbeats, on the grounds that “they’re electrical changes at six weeks, but the heart’s not beating,” suggested that Roe v. Wade saved women from largely-mythical “coat hanger” abortions, and framed his “personal” opposition to abortion as distinct from what the law should be.

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 sixteen. 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.

READ: Top FDA lawyer resigns after Josh Hawley exposes defense of abortion, vaccine mandates

On March 14, Hawley made clear he would be seeking firmer reassurances by releasing a series of questions he intends to ask Oz when his nomination reaches the full Senate floor, including more details about his current positions on abortion and transgender policy, and how he would act on those positions in his new role.

“Do you believe that CMS has a role in promoting or supporting gender transition surgery in any way?” Hawley asks. “In line with President Trump’s policies, will you commit never to issue a National Coverage Determination at CMS for ‘gender reassignment surgery’ or equivalent procedures, including the use of hormone and puberty blockers?”

“When describing a state pro-life law in 2019, you predicted that the state would face a ‘big sucking sound of businesses leaving,’” reads another question. “Can you clarify your comments? As head of CMS, will you allow decisions to be influenced by corporate preferences?”

“Certain states have mandated private insurance coverage for abortion, violating the Weldon Amendment,” the list continues. “Will you work with CMS regional offices to withhold funds from states that refuse to comply with Weldon protections?”

“Under President Trump, CMS approved waivers allowing states to exclude abortion-performing clinics from the Medicaid program. Will you support the President’s policy and back similar waivers, should you be confirmed?”

“Will you support action at the federal level to directly exclude abortion providers from the Medicaid program?”

“The Biden administration issued guidance via CMS suggesting that the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) required hospitals to perform abortions, overriding state pro-life laws,” the senator’s final question asks. “Will you return to the Trump policy and clarify that EMTALA does not mandate abortions?”

While a strong supporter of Trump, Hawley has questioned a number of his choices over their positions on life issues, including Kennedy, whom he ultimately supported after receiving pro-life assurances, and Food & Drug Administration chief counsel Hilary Perkins, who resigned shortly after her work for the Biden administration’s positions on abortion and vaccine mandates.