WASHINGTON – Vice President Kamala Harris is using the second anniversary of the Supreme Court decision overturn Roe v. Wade to argue that Donald Trump is “guilty” of rolling back women’s freedoms and triggering a national health crisis.
Harris said Monday that Trump “intended” his three Supreme Court picks to overturn Roe. “It was premeditated,” she said. “Trump has not denied, much less shown remorse, for his actions.”
The vice president, paying homage to her experience as a California prosecutor, added: “In the case of stealing the reproductive freedom of America’s women, Donald Trump is guilty.”
As president Joe Biden is kidnapped at Camp David preparing for this week’s presidential debate with presumptive Republican nominee Trump, the vice president is headlining events on the anniversary of the high court ruling, which Democrats hope will be a critical galvanizer for them in the election. She went to Arizona for a second reproductive rights event on Monday.
The campaign push last week featured first lady Jill Biden and a number of women who were motivated to join the 2024 effort after having suffered — or almost died — in the face of restrictive abortion laws that were, in some cases, enforced despite never having intended to terminate the pregnancy.
The rollback of federal protections means the issue is now mostly in the hands of state legislatures, where laws vary wildly. At least 25 million women now live in states with abortion restrictions and face increasingly dire consequences. And it’s changing how and where doctors choose to practice medicine.
Trump has repeatedly taken credit for nullifying the federally guaranteed right to abortion. He named three of the Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. Wade, but since then resisted supporting a national abortion ban.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans said abortion should be legal in at least some cases, according to an AP-NORC poll held last summer. The poll also found that 6 in 10 American adults thought Congress should pass a law that would guarantee access to legal abortion across the country.
Support for legal abortion was particularly high in situations where the pregnant woman’s health was seriously threatened by the pregnancy. In the survey, more than 8 in 10 Americans said abortion in these circumstances should be allowed in their state. Support for legal abortion early in pregnancy was also high, with about three-quarters saying it should be allowed in their state at that point.
Dr. Kristin Lyerly, an obstetrician and gynecologist running for a congressional seat in Wisconsin, said Monday it’s a freedom issue.
“People are worried about the cost of gas and groceries,” Lyerly said on a conference call with reporters. “They talk about the border, but what they are fundamentally concerned about is the ability to make your own personal decisions about health care. This is a question of freedom. It’s not a political issue for them. It’s existential.”
Lyerly performed abortions in Wisconsin but temporarily moved her practice to Minnesota after the Supreme Court ruling. She was among those who brought a successful lawsuit challenging the state’s abortion ban.
The White House is also detailing its policy efforts to protect access to abortion, access to contraception and the right to travel for medical care as it awaits another high court ruling, expected this month, that will affect how women receive emergency medical care.
“The overturn of Roe was devastating for women across the country,” said Jennifer Klein, White House adviser on reproductive health.
Klein said the administration is already working to implement three of Biden’s executive orders aimed at protecting access wherever possible, protecting contraceptive care and privacy rights, and expanding health care. This momentum will continue if the president is re-elected.
The high court earlier this month preserved access to a drug that was used in nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the US last year, in the court’s first ruling on abortion since the case that overturned Roe.
But there is one more case, related to a federal law, called Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Lawor EMTALA, the law requires doctors to stabilize or treat any patient who presents to an emergency room and enrolls in almost all emergency rooms – any that accept Medicare funding.
The Department of Justice has sued Idaho about its abortion law, which allows a woman to have an abortion only when her life – not her health – is at risk. State law has raised questions about when a doctor is able to provide the stabilizing treatment required by federal law.
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Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux contributed to this report.
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