(LifeSiteNews) — President Donald Trump has nominated radiologist Dr. Nicole Saphier as surgeon general after withdrawing Casey Means’ nomination amid pro-life opposition.

Saphier, Trump’s third nomination for the role, has condemned puberty blockers as causing “irreversible consequences,” criticized the childhood vaccine schedule, and chose life as a teenage mother despite pressure to abort.

Criticizing the surgical and chemical mutilation of children, Saphier told OutKick, a Fox News-affiliated sports website:

Puberty is a critical window for growth, bone density, and emotional maturation, and altering it with hormone blockers can lead to irreversible consequences – ranging from weakened skeletal health and infertility to heightened anxiety and depression.

She has also used her podcast to highlight so-called “detransitioners,” or formerly gender-confused people who now recognize their true sex.

“A lot of these transgender medical interventions are the exact same way,” she said, comparing transgenderism to body dysmorphia. “It’s just another pathway of promoting body dysmorphic disorder.”

Pro-life leaders also expressed optimism about Saphier’s past statements on abortion, including her own experience choosing life as a teenage mom.

“I chose motherhood, and am thankful every day that I am now blessed with a wonderful 19-year-old son,” she wrote in 2019.

She made the comments criticizing an Alabama state representative who opposed a law to protect almost all preborn babies in the state from being killed.

“Some kids are unwanted, so you kill them now or you kill them later. You bring them in the world unwanted, unloved, you send them to the electric chair,” Democrat John Rogers said at the time. “So, you kill them now or you kill them later.”

While Saphier defended the dignity of people born into difficult situations, and criticized the eugenic comments, she also suggested pro-lifers can be “extreme” in their views.

“Rogers’ words illustrate just how extreme each side of the abortion debate has become,” she wrote.

She also hinted that she would not be making a definitive moral judgement on someone who chose to kill their own baby.

“Extremism in all forms – especially in the debate over abortion between pro-life [and] pro-choice advocates – should be rejected,” she wrote. “Although my situation as a girl with an unplanned pregnancy is unique to me, I do not hold myself to a higher standard than anyone who makes a choice different than I did so long ago.”

Those comments were seven years ago, so it is possible she has changed her views in one way or another. The senators considering her nomination, and pro-life groups, will need to press her on where she stands on the growing issue of chemical abortion drugs, which account for 66 percent of abortions.

Notably, Live Action President Lila Rose recently shared her support for Saphier.

BREAKING: Pro-life Dr. Nicole B. Saphier was just nominated to serve as the next U.S. Surgeon General.

She had an unplanned pregnancy at just 17 years old, was pressured to abort, but chose to protect the life of her little son, Nick.

Inspiring.

— Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) May 1, 2026

Still, there are unknowns about how she will use her position as surgeon general to speak out against the dangers and horrors of abortion.

On vaccines, Saphier has generally aligned herself with medical freedom advocates and vaccine safety proponents who want to see a rollback of the childhood schedule.

Referencing the Hep B vaccine given to newborns, she said last September:

I don’t necessarily think it’s necessary. My opinion is if a woman recently tested negative for hepatitis B and they’re living a low-risk lifestyle, no IV drug use, not a sex worker, they don’t have a hepatitis B positive person living in the home, then the newborn probably doesn’t need this vaccine and we can have a conversation about whether or not they should get the vaccine later in life.

However, she did criticize Trump for warning women not to use Tylenol during pregnancy, as it may have a link to autism.

Others, like Catholic commentator Liz Wheeler, have raised concerns about her past comments on vaccines.

Is Dr. Nicole Saphier MAHA?

You tell me.

Nicole Saphier: “We’re facing a crisis within our country of declining vaccine rates. We have to figure out what’s causing this and what we can do to move forward.”

So, her goal is to vaxx your kids.

Nicole Saphier actually says this…

— Liz Wheeler (@Liz_Wheeler) May 1, 2026

Though Saphier wrote a book in 2020 called “Make America Healthy Again,” she also criticized the movement, which generally seeks to get toxic chemicals out of food, promote holistic alternatives to Big Pharma medications, and move the country away from an industrial food system.

“I’d really like to see a little bit more reaching across the aisle when it comes to public health,” Saphier said earlier this year, according to the Associated Press.

“That doesn’t mean it has to be some Democratic nominee for surgeon general, maybe just someone a little less aligned with the MAHA movement who, I don’t know, finished their residency and has an active medical license,” she said in a direct reference to Means.

An initial hearing on Saphier’s nomination has not yet been scheduled, but her past statements will certainly lead to pointed questions from both sides.