Vice President Harris will head to Florida on Wednesday as the state’s six-week abortion ban is about to take effect, using the occasion to attack former President Trump for his latest comments on reproductive rights, if he is re-elected.
Harris will deliver remarks in Jacksonville, where a Biden campaign official said she will describe the new Florida law as one of the “Trump abortion bans” that have been implemented since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
“This ban applies to many women before they even know they are pregnant – which tells us that the extremists who wrote this ban don’t even know how a woman’s body works. Or they just don’t care,” Harris will say, according to excerpts of his comments.
The vice president will also build on Trump’s recent comments in an interview with Time magazine, in which he said it should be up to individual states to monitor women’s pregnancies and prosecute women for having the procedure.
“Florida, the contrast could not be clearer: Under Donald Trump, it would be fair game for women to be monitored and punished by the government,” Harris will say in her speech. “Joe Biden and I have a different view: We believe that no politician should ever come between a woman and a doctor.”
Harris’ visit comes a week after President Biden traveled to Tampa, Florida, where he also resisted state abortion restrictions.
A Florida court ruling in early April upheld the state’s 15-week abortion ban and allowed a six-week ban to take effect after 30 days. It also approved a ballot measure that would protect access to abortion if voters approved it in November.
Renewed attention to abortion in the state has led to optimism among some Democrats about their chances of competing in the state, which has turned reliably red in recent election cycles and is Trump’s home state.
Biden, in a campaign statement, said Trump was directly responsible for the state of abortion access in Florida.
“Trump is worried that voters will hold him accountable for the cruelty and chaos he has created. He’s right. Trump destroyed women’s rights and freedoms in America,” Biden said. “This November, voters will teach you a valuable lesson: Don’t mess with the women of America.”
Abortion is a major issue ahead of the 2024 election and a significant vulnerability for Trump. The former president has repeatedly taken credit for the Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Wade because he appointed three conservative judges.
Trump, in an effort to sidestep the issue, has taken the position that abortion policy should be left to the discretion of states through legislation or voter referenda, as GOP-led states enact restrictive policies. But it also provoked attacks, including from some on the right who expressed disappointment that the former president was not adopting a federal minimum standard for abortion.
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