“Having her at the top of the list of candidates is definitely going to really bring attention to this issue,” said Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster who worked on Biden’s campaign in 2020 and is part of Biden’s 2024 polling team. “If anything, she’s been our strongest voice on this issue, inspiring women voters on this issue, inspiring an entire generation of younger voters on this issue and people of color.”
Abortion rights advocates Have With one of their staunchest allies as the Democratic nominee in 2022, the first presidential election since the Supreme Court stripped away constitutional abortion rights, it could help the party not only defeat Trump but also retain control of the Senate and retake the House of Representatives.
On Sunday, within hours of Biden giving up his reelection bid and endorsing Harris, Harris secured endorsements from two prominent abortion rights groups. Mini Timmaraj, president and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All, spearheaded the group’s board of directors and quickly endorsed Harris for the Democratic nomination. Emily’s List, a political action committee that supports Democratic women who advocate for abortion rights, also endorsed Harris, and Planned Parenthood leader Alexis McGill Johnson praised Harris for being the first vice president to visit a Planned Parenthood clinic while in office.
Harris “has not had to evolve on this issue; she’s been there from the beginning,” Timaraju said. “She’s the kind of candidate that’s going to generate more enthusiasm from elements of our movement, including independents and Republicans who are really disgruntled after the election.”“Dobbs.”
Biden, by contrast, is a devout Catholic and has shifted his stance on abortion over his long political career. Trump has spoken euphemistically about abortion during his presidency, lamenting in his re-election campaign speeches that Republicans are trying to take away “freedoms,” including reproductive rights.
Biden was widely criticized by Democrats for not immediately and strongly condemning the Supreme Court’s abortion decisions, but he has taken modest steps to protect abortion access through federal agencies and has repeatedly said he would sign any bill that would make abortion law law. Roe v. Wade If Congress were to pass such a law.
Biden’s aide Democrats believed abortion would rekindle support among younger voters, liberals and people of color – Democrats whose support for the president has waned in recent months – but Biden said he had largely deferred to Harris to serve as his chief communicator on the issue.
Harris initially struggled to find her footing as vice president due to the surge in immigration. eggHarris has identified an issue on which she can lead forcefully that will be key to the success of her Administration.
“Donald Trump is guilty of depriving American women of their reproductive freedom,” Harris said at an event at the University of Maryland in June marking the second anniversary of the overturning of the amendment. egg“And over the past two years, we’ve seen the impact of President Trump’s anti-abortion laws — the horrific and heartbreaking reality that women face every day in our country.”
A Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted this month found that about a quarter of all Americans said abortion access was “one of the most important issues” when voting for president. Among Democrats, 45% said abortion was a top issue.
Abortion rights groups in nearly a dozen states are pushing ballot measures to explicitly protect abortion access. With few ways to get around state bans, the abortion rights movement has turned to appealing directly to voters as a primary strategy, who have consistently supported abortion access since the 1990s. egg The measure has been overturned in Republican-leaning states, including Ohio, Kansas and Kentucky, and Democrats have won the 2022 midterm elections in large part because of voter backlash against blanket abortion bans in Republican-led states. Such as Texas and many southern states.
Harris, who is considered favored to win the nomination, has received prominent support from Democratic governors and members of Congress who have been strong advocates of abortion rights, including Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, Washington Senator Patty Murray and Minnesota Senator Tina Smith.
“There’s a lot of energy going around in the party right now,” said Jessica Mackler, president of Emily’s List. “If you look at the outpouring of support for the vice president in the last 24 hours — actually less than 24 hours — people are excited and they’re counting on her, and a lot of that is because of the leadership she’s providing on reproductive rights.”
Ms. Harris, a former district attorney who once specialized in prosecuting child sexual abuse cases, has a long history of defending abortion rights. As California attorney general, her department battled abortion opponents who filmed undercover videos of Planned Parenthood. As a U.S. senator, she grilled then-Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh on abortion, asking him, “Can you think of a law that gives the government the power to make decisions about men’s bodies?”
After some back and forth, Kavanaugh responded, “I don’t have any plans right now, Senator.”
Anti-abortion groups Mr. Harris Extremist.
“Harris is so committed to abortion that she has no regard for anything else, including the development of a child before birth and the real needs of women,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, a leading anti-abortion group that plans to spend $92 million this election.
She added, “Joe Biden has a hard time saying the word abortion, but Kamala Harris shouts it.”
Harris’ campaign He declined to comment.
Harris made history as the first woman and person of color to serve as vice president, and her record of fighting for abortion rights makes her uniquely qualified to bring the issue to the forefront of voter voting. Her ally says:
“She can better than anyone build the case against Donald Trump and why he is so damaging to our future,” she said. Murray is the first woman to serve as president pro tempore of the Senate.
Earlier this month, delegates to the Republican National Convention approved a party platform that abandoned long-held Republican support for nationwide abortion restrictions in favor of President Donald Trump’s policy of leaving it up to the states. President Trump has frustrated anti-abortion leaders by not supporting federal regulation, despite pressure from some to back a nationwide abortion ban. Abortion after 15 weeks.
Biden administration officials say the federal government has limited ability to intervene in state legislation, even as the administration has issued guidelines, executive orders and legal interpretations aimed at protecting abortion access.
If Harris wins the nomination, some abortion rights could be repealed. Her advocates told her He will go a step further than Biden and release his own policy proposal outlining specific policies to protect abortion.
Harris is being extremely careful not to launch a presidential run before Biden announces his candidacy, and her team is still working through her policy platform, according to a person familiar with the internal planning. It’s not yet clear how she will craft her own abortion platform or whether she plans to take a different line from the president.
“Harris is part of an administration that has carefully crafted policy based on what the president thinks is best and what he thinks is achievable,” said Pamela Merritt, executive director of Medical Students for Choice. “If she’s the nominee, this is an opportunity.”
Emily Gaskin contributed to this report.
