Kamala Harris describes abortion opponents as “extremists.” (document)
Washington:
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris visited an abortion clinic on Thursday to highlight reproductive rights, a key election issue, in what is believed to be the first such visit by a president or vice president.
“We have to be a country that trusts women,” the Democrat said during a meeting with staff at a Planned Parenthood center in St. Paul, Minnesota, in the Midwestern state.
“These attacks on an individual’s right to make decisions about their own body are outrageous,” said Harris, the first woman, Black and South Asian vice president in U.S. history.
The landmark visit is part of Harris’ national tour focusing on the emotional aftermath of the conservative-dominated U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn abortion rights nationwide.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign has highlighted the issue and cast it as a vote winner, while his Republican rival Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed he chose the judge who made the decision .
Since the Supreme Court’s ruling, 21 states have fully or partially banned abortion, and some Republicans are pushing for a nationwide abortion ban.
About two dozen anti-abortion protesters rallied outside the clinic Harris visited, holding signs that read “Planned Parenthood = Abortion” and “Abortion is not health care.”
Harris described abortion opponents as “extremists.”
She praised the clinic’s staff, saying they “dedicate their lives to the profession of providing health care in a safe place that gives people dignity.”
‘extreme’
A White House official said Harris will hear stories during her visit about “how Minnesota has been affected by other states’ extreme abortion bans” that require women to travel out of state for abortions.
Biden strongly defended reproductive rights in his annual State of the Union address to Congress last week, warning Republican anti-abortion lawmakers about “the power of women.”
He also pledged to resist any attempts to introduce a federal abortion ban and said he would push to enshrine abortion rights into law if he wins a second term.
The White House has highlighted the erosion of reproductive rights in the United States since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that protected abortion rights nationwide.
Biden is a devout Catholic, but as president he was a staunch supporter of abortion.
Such protections have been prevalent in every state ballot initiative related to the issue since Roe was overturned, giving Democrats hope it will be top of mind for voters in November.
First lady Jill Biden last week hosted two figures in the fight for reproductive rights who were part of the president’s speech.
One of them is Kate Cox, a Texas mother who sued last year for abortion rights but was forced to travel abroad for an emergency termination of a non-viable pregnancy.
Also in attendance was Alabama’s Latoya Beasley, whose in vitro fertilization process was interrupted last month when the state’s Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos should be considered children.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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