Vice President Kamala Harris brought her abortion rights tour to California on Monday, raising the issue in a left-leaning state as Democrats across the country warn that Republicans could enact a federal ban on the procedure if they take control of Congress. on election day.
At an event at Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose, Harris applauded the state for having some of the strongest abortion access protections in the country, but urged California voters to remain “vigilant” and take the issue seriously in the elections. congressional elections in November.
“Don't get too comfortable,” said Harris, who also traveled to Virginia and Wisconsin to demonstrate for reproductive rights before the election. “Let's understand it: None of us can afford to sit back and think, 'Thank God we're in California.'”
The vice president's visit to the liberal Bay Area comes as Democrats debate the issue in campaigns to flip some of the state's Republican-controlled districts to gain control of the House of Representatives. With several potentially battleground districts, California is considered critical to the Democratic Party's goal.
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump took credit and applauded the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, but stopped short of endorsing a national abortion ban. Abortion rights advocates do not trust Trump and fear that continuing a Republican-majority House could risk losing more reproductive health care protections, including access to contraception.
On Monday, Harris described abortion access as a personal freedom that is simply the tip of the iceberg, and warned that if empowered, Republicans could also target LGBTQ+ rights and voting. He attempted to overcome deep divisions on the issue based on religious beliefs and focused on policies in red states that do not allow exceptions to abortion in cases of rape or incest.
“You don't have to abandon your faith or deeply held beliefs to agree that the government should not tell you what to do with your body,” Harris said to applause, calling for electing a majority to Congress that “simply agrees.” that it is not the government's right” to prohibit reproductive health care.
California Democratic Sens. Alex Padilla and Laphonza Butler and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra joined Harris at Monday's event, a show of strength as Democrats focus on abortion rights in his attempt to occupy the White House and gain control of Congress.
Becerra, who planned to meet with OB-GYN doctors and medical students at the University of California, San Francisco after Monday's event, said that if Democrats regain control of the House and President Biden is re-elected, the right to abortion throughout the country.
“All I know is that we all have to be in this,” Becerra said. “There's nothing we can leave in our pockets.”
Monday's event, also attended by Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, was repeatedly disrupted by protesters calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Before being escorted out of the building, protesters chanted that Harris was “complicit in genocide”; In an attempt to silence them, his supporters chanted: “Four more years.”
Harris and Biden, who are running for a second term, have raised the future of abortion as a fundamental freedom that is at stake in the election.
California voters in 2022 approved a measure enshrining reproductive rights in the state Constitution; Since then, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed laws solidifying the state as a “safe haven” for doctors and patients.
Under California law, law enforcement agencies are prohibited from assisting with out-of-state abortion investigations. California has also taken steps to expand the types of providers who can perform abortions and has opened training to doctors from other states living under “hostile” laws.
Abortion rights advocates fear that the continuation of a Republican-majority House could risk losing more health protections. Nearly two dozen states have limited access to abortion or banned it entirely.
Last week, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California released a “burn book” targeting a dozen congressional candidates, including Reps. John Duarte (R-Modesto) and David Valadao (R-Hanford), for their voting records on abortion legislation.
“The future of abortion will be largely determined over the next 12 months, including in California,” Sue Dunlap, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, told the Times in an interview.
Dunlap said she is concerned about voter fatigue on the issue because of California's long-standing abortion rights protections.
“We won't get there if we don't win in California,” Dunlap said. “We do not live in a country or a world where California exists in and of itself. We have to take these threats seriously.”
