Kamala’s stance on abortion could win her the election

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden might not often use the word “abortion” when he talks about the overturning of Roe v. Wade, but Vice President Kamala Harris sure does. She’s also toured a Minnesota Planned Parenthood clinic where the procedure is performed and routinely links the fall of Roe to the larger issue of rising maternal mortality nationwide.

Now that Harris is running for president in place of Biden, Democrats and advocates for reproductive rights are hoping that her bluntness on abortion — coupled with the administration’s policies — will help sway voters to deliver them not just the White House but key congressional seats as well.

“The president on the record was fabulous and the campaign was turning out multiple repro-focused ads a week, and had an army of surrogates,” said Mini Timmaraju, president of Reproductive Freedom for All. “But, you know, nothing is more compelling than the top of the ticket being the most compelling on the issue, and that’s what we have now.”

In her first rally as a candidate on Tuesday, Harris touched on the issue of abortion briefly, and on Wednesday during a speech in Indianapolis at a meeting of a historically Black sorority, she touched on her work in boosting maternal health. But she’s expected to make abortion a major feature of the campaign going forward, as she works to draw a stark contrast between herself and Republican Donald Trump.

“We who believe in reproductive freedom will stop Donald Trump’s extreme abortion bans, because we trust women to make decisions about their own bodies and not have their government tell them what to do,” she said to loud cheers at a Wisconsin rally.

The Supreme Court on June 24, 2022, overturned abortion rights that had been in place since 1973. Since then, roughly half the states have put some sort of ban in place.

The consequences of these bans go far beyond restricting access for those who wish to end unwanted pregnancies. And generally, the states with the most restrictions also have the worst rates of maternal mortality.

Trump has repeatedly taken credit for the overturning of the federally guaranteed right to abortion. He nominated three of the Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe. But he has publicly resisted supporting a national abortion ban.

Dr. Jamila Perritt, leader of the nonpartisan group Physicians for Reproductive Health, laid out a bleak landscape for women today that she hopes will change.

“The destruction of the health care safety net, assaults on bodily autonomy, and the rising maternal mortality rate clearly show us that pregnant people and those with the capacity for pregnancy do not have access to the options they need to stay safe and healthy,” she said, adding that it’s worse for Black women who must navigate racism on top of worsening healthcare.

“We need bold solutions to combat these crises on multiple fronts,” she said.

Even before dropping out of the race, Biden had made Harris his chief messenger on the issue. In the days following the overturning of Roe, the vice president met with lawmakers in conservative states to discuss how to protect abortion rights in the ruling’s aftermath. They convened meetings at the White House. Earlier this year, she did a reproductive rights tour in battleground states, starting in Wisconsin. She was the first vice president to tour an abortion clinic.