WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris is using the second anniversary of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade to argue that Donald Trump is “guilty” of rolling back women’s freedoms and causing a nationwide health care crisis.
Harris said Monday that Trump “intended” to overturn Roe with his three Supreme Court picks. “It was premeditated,” she said. “Trump has not denied his actions, let alone shown remorse.”
The vice president added, with a nod to her background as a prosecutor in California: “In the case of stealing the reproductive freedom of America’s women, Donald Trump is guilty.”
As President Joe Biden is holed up at Camp David in preparation for this week’s presidential debate with presumptive Republican nominee Trump, the vice president is presiding over events on the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision, which Democrats hope will will be a crucial boost for them in the elections. She left for Arizona later Monday for a second event on reproductive rights.
Last week’s campaign featured first lady Jill Biden and a number of women who were motivated to join the 2024 effort after suffering — or nearly dying — under the restrictive abortion laws that were even enforced in some cases. although they never intended to terminate their pregnancy.
The nullification of federal protections has meant that the issue is now largely in the hands of state legislatures, where laws vary widely. At least 25 million women now live in states with abortion restrictions and face increasingly serious consequences. And it changes how and where doctors choose to practice medicine.
Trump has repeatedly taken credit for overturning a federally guaranteed right to abortion. He nominated three Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade but have since opposed a national abortion ban.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe abortion should be legal in some cases, according to an AP-NORC poll last summer. The survey also found that six in 10 American adults said Congress should pass a law guaranteeing access to legal abortion nationwide.
Support for legal abortion was especially strong in situations where the pregnant person’s own health was seriously endangered by the pregnancy. In the poll, more than eight in 10 Americans said abortion should be allowed in their state under these circumstances. Support for legal abortion early in pregnancy was also high, with around three-quarters saying it should be allowed in their country at that time.
Dr. Kristin Lyerly, an obstetrician and gynecologist running for an open congressional seat in Wisconsin, said Monday it’s a matter of freedom.
“People are worried about the cost of gas and groceries,” Lyerly said on a conference call with reporters. “They talk about the border, but the fundamental thing they are concerned about is the ability to make their own personal health care decisions. This is a matter of freedom. For them it is not a political issue. It’s existential.”
Lyerly performed abortions throughout Wisconsin, but temporarily moved her practice to Minnesota after the Supreme Court ruling. She was among those who filed a successful lawsuit against 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 a new Supreme Court ruling expected sometime this month and that of will impact the way women receive emergency medical care.
“The overturning of Roe has been devastating for women across the country,” said Jennifer Klein, a White House reproductive health adviser.
Klein said the administration is already implementing three of Biden’s executive orders aimed at protecting access where possible, monitoring contraceptive care and privacy rights, and expanding health care. That pressure will continue if the president is re-elected.
The Supreme Court earlier this month upheld access to a drug used in nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the U.S. last year, in the court’s first abortion decision since the case that overturned Roe.
But there’s another case, related to a federal law called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, or EMTALA. The law requires doctors to stabilize or treat any patient who shows up at the emergency room and applies to almost all emergency rooms – any that accept Medicare funding.
The Justice Department has sued Idaho over its abortion law, which only allows a woman to have an abortion if her life — and not her health — is in danger. 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.
