WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 President Joe Biden might not often use the word 鈥渁bortion鈥 when he talks about the overturning of Roe v. Wade, but Vice President Kamala Harris sure does. She's also toured a Minnesota Planned Parenthood clinic where the procedure is performed and routinely links the fall of Roe to the larger issue of rising maternal mortality nationwide.
Now that Harris is , Democrats and advocates for reproductive rights are hoping that her bluntness on abortion 鈥 coupled with the administration's policies 鈥 will help sway voters to deliver them not just the White House but key congressional seats as well.
鈥淭he president on the record was fabulous and the campaign was turning out multiple repro-focused ads a week, and had an army of surrogates,鈥 said Mini Timmaraju, president of Reproductive Freedom for All. 鈥淏ut, you know, nothing is more compelling than the top of the ticket being the most compelling on the issue, and that's what we have now.鈥
In on Tuesday, Harris touched on the issue of abortion briefly. But she's expected to make it a major feature of the campaign going forward, as she works to draw a stark contrast between herself and Republican .
She's eager to portray herself as a direct and consistent advocate with a history of fighting for reproductive health issues, especially Black maternal health.
鈥淲e who believe in reproductive freedom will stop Donald Trump鈥檚 extreme abortion bans, because we trust women to make decisions about their own bodies and not have their government tell them what to do," she said to loud cheers at a Wisconsin rally.
The Supreme Court on June 24, 2022, that had been in place since 1973. Since then, roughly half the states have put some sort of ban in place.
The consequences of these bans go far beyond for those who wish to end unwanted pregnancies. And generally, the states with the most restrictions also have the worst rates of maternal mortality.
Trump has repeatedly taken credit for the overturning of the federally guaranteed right to abortion. He nominated three of the Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe. But he has publicly .
Trump's running mate, JD Vance, has said he adheres to Trump's views. But in 2022, when he was running for the Senate in Ohio, Vance said: 鈥淚 certainly would like abortion to be illegal nationally."
Dr. Jamila Perritt, leader of the nonpartisan group Physicians for Reproductive Health, laid out a bleak landscape for women today that she hopes will change.
鈥淭he destruction of the health care safety net, assaults on bodily autonomy, and the rising maternal mortality rate clearly show us that pregnant people and those with the capacity for pregnancy do not have access to the options they need to stay safe and healthy,鈥 she said, adding that it鈥檚 worse for Black women who must navigate racism on top of worsening healthcare.
鈥淲e need bold solutions to combat these crises on multiple fronts," she said.
Even before dropping out of the race, Biden had made Harris his chief messenger on the issue. In the days following the overturning of Roe, the vice president met with lawmakers in conservative states to discuss how to protect abortion rights in the ruling鈥檚 aftermath. They convened meetings at the White House. Earlier this year, she did a reproductive rights tour in battleground states, starting in Wisconsin. She was .
Harris鈥 husband, Doug Emhoff, has said reproductive freedom is an 鈥渆veryone鈥 issue, not a 鈥渨omen's鈥 issue. On Tuesday, in his first public appearance since his wife started pursuing the top slot on the ticket, he visited an abortion clinic.
鈥淲e鈥檝e seen the stories of women who had to literally be on death鈥檚 door before they got treatment. It鈥檚 barbaric, it鈥檚 immoral and it must change,鈥 Emhoff said.
The president's personal views have evolved over his 50 years in public service, but the 81-year-old Catholic has always been more comfortable leaving the blunt talk to his vice president.
On the policy side, Biden has sought to make medication abortion more available, access to contraception easier, and his administration has gone before the Supreme Court to argue hospitals have a duty under federal law to perform the procedure in life-threatening situations even in states where abortion is now banned. Biden also has said the Hyde Amendment should be eliminated. Among other things, the amendment bars the use of federal funds to pay for abortion.
But when the president had the opportunity to hit Trump on the issue during their June 27 debate, , giving jumbled and even nonsensical responses, and he failed to check Trump鈥檚 false claims about Democrats鈥 views on the subject. .
Harris' views have been consistent, from her time in the U.S. Senate and as attorney general in California. She links the issue of abortion to the larger problems in the U.S. with maternal mortality and morbidity 鈥 plainly discussing how Black women are at a significantly greater risk for complications and less likely to be believed when something goes wrong.
As senator, she advocated for maternal health legislation. In 2019, she sponsored the Maternal CARE Act, calling for grants addressing implicit bias in maternal health care. In 2020, she introduced a law aimed at addressing maternal health outcomes with a focus on Black maternal health. She鈥檚 also co-sponsored bills addressing birth control access and funding care for uterine fibroids.
During her time as California鈥檚 attorney general, Harris also sued an anti-abortion group that secretly recorded videos of abortion providers.
Mary Ruth Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California, Davis School of Law, said Harris is poised to become among the most, if not the most, pro-abortion-rights candidates ever nominated by a major political party.
鈥淚f Harris prevails, it may have a big impact on how we address abortion rights because it鈥檒l show that a more unapologetic, full-throated embrace of reproductive rights can lead you to win politically and overcome other political obstacles,鈥 said Ziegler, one of the nation鈥檚 leading abortion rights scholars.
Renee Bracey Sherman, founder and co-executive director of the national abortion rights organization WeTestify, said Harris' identity as a Black and South Asian woman uniquely positions her to speak more personally about how abortion bans disproportionately impact women of color. She said it 鈥渕eans something for all of us" when people of color speak thoughtfully and unapologetically.
She added: 鈥淚鈥檓 looking forward to working with someone who we don鈥檛 have to beg to use the word 鈥榓bortion.'"
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