Vice President Kamala Harris blasted Republicans as extremists for trying to ban abortions as she rallied women in the key battleground state of Wisconsin on Monday, marking the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade by leading Democrats' charge for restoring reproductive rights.
She singled out Donald Trump, who is tightening his grip on the Republican presidential nomination, for saying he was “proud” of helping to limit abortions. Trump nominated three conservative justices to the U.S. Supreme Court during his term in office, paving the way for the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
“Proud that women across our nation are suffering?” Harris said. “Proud that women have been robbed of a fundamental freedom? Proud that doctors could be thrown in prison for caring for their patients? That young women today have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers?”
The barrage reflects the White House's intense focus on abortion rights during this year's presidential campaign. Back in Washington, Biden convened a meeting of his reproductive health care access task force to discuss threats to emergency care and new steps for implementing executive orders on the subject.
The Democratic president described Roe v. Wade as “a fundamental right" that had been "ripped away.”
Biden, Harris, first lady Jill Biden and second gentleman Doug Emhoff are holding another rally focused on abortion in Virginia on Tuesday. In addition, Harris' trip to Wisconsin is the first stop in a nationwide tour to talk about reproductive rights.
In her speech on Monday, Harris described abortion as an integral part of the country's tradition of personal liberty.
“In America, freedom is not to be given. It is not to be bestowed. It is ours by right,” she said. “And that includes the freedom to make decisions about one’s own body — not the government telling you what to do.”
Harris shared stories of women who have miscarried in toilets or developed sepsis because they were denied help by doctors concerned about violating abortion restrictions.
“This is, in fact, a healthcare crisis,” she said. "And there is nothing about this that is hypothetical."
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