U.S. Sen. Angus King said his vote to confirm a 35-year-old conservative lawyer with anti-abortion views to a lifetime judgeship was a mistake.

King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats and who supports abortion rights, was the only one to join Senate Republicans this week to confirm Joshua Divine as a U.S. District Court judge in Missouri.

King told the Huffington Post on Thursday that he was not “fully aware” of Divine’s record on abortion and cast his “yes” vote based on the recommendation of Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican who represents Missouri.

“I took Josh Hawley’s advice,” King told the online news outlet. “In retrospect, I think it was a mistake, from what I’ve learned about Mr. Divine since. But sometimes, you rely on your colleagues.”

King’s office said the senator was not available for an interview Friday to discuss his vote, which would not have changed the outcome of a nomination that passed 51-46, with three Republicans not voting.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins also voted to confirm Divine.

Still, King’s vote was surprising for a senator who supports abortion rights and presents himself as a thoughtful and sometimes professorial lawmaker — and one who has been sharply critical of Trump, his judicial appointees and much of his second-term agenda.

King’s vote has drawn criticism from abortion rights’ groups.

Lisa Margulies, vice president of Planned Parenthood Maine Action Fund, said Divine’s lifetime appointment is “a part of a decades long campaign to take away our reproductive rights and target Planned Parenthood.”

“The level of attacks we are navigating is truly unprecedented, and we need to know that our leaders in Congress are paying attention and understand what’s at stake with each and every vote,” Margulies said in a written statement.

While Planned Parenthood didn’t criticize King by name, Demand Justice, a national progressive judicial advocacy group, did.

“To say Senator King’s vote on the nomination of Joshua Divine is a shock would be a massive understatement,” said interim director Maggie Jo Buchanan in a written statement. “Any person who believes in the critical importance of reproductive rights would not vote to put an anti-abortion extremist in a lifetime position on the federal bench. The Senator owes his constituents an explanation – whatever that may be.”

Prior to his confirmation, Divine was the solicitor general of Missouri, where he pursued an anti-abortion agenda, including efforts to restrict access to medication abortions, supporting the state’s near total ban on abortion and opposing a ballot initiative to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.

Divine’s nomination to the federal bench was opposed by abortion rights groups, including Planned Parenthood and Reproductive Freedom for All.

“Federal courts are a critical line of defense to preserve reproductive health care, and these appointments are a dangerous sign of what’s to come,” Reproductive Freedom for All President and CEO Mini Timmaraju said in a written statement Tuesday.