Pro-life groups and lawmakers denounced former Vice President Joe Biden’s choice of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra for secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“Far from ‘uniting’ the country, Biden has proven yet again he is an extremist on abortion,” Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement following Biden’s Monday announcement. “Becerra is aggressively pro-abortion and a foe of free speech.”

Dannenfelser accused Becerra of persecuting “citizen journalists who exposed Planned Parenthood’s role in baby parts trafficking” such as pro-life activist David Daleiden.

“Not only that, he went all the way to the Supreme Court to try to force California’s pro-life pregnancy centers to advertise and refer for abortion—a policy the Court rejected as unconstitutional,” Dannenfelser said. “In Congress, he even voted in favor of partial-birth abortion.”

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., tweeted that he will be voting “no” on Becerra’s appointment, and that Becerra should be “rejected by the Senate.”

“Xavier Becerra spent his career attacking pro-life Americans and tried to force crisis pregnancy centers to advertise abortions,” Cotton said. “He’s been a disaster in California and he is unqualified to lead HHS.”