During a recent visit to Planned Parenthood in St. Paul, Minn. Thursday, Vice President Kamala Harris called new laws restricting abortion a “health care crisis.”
Harris’ visit to one of the nation’s largest nonprofit organizations providing reproductive and sexual healthcare is believed to be the first official visit by a vice president, according to The New York Times, adding that it is not believed any presidents have ever visited an abortion clinic in the nation’s history.
Speaking to a pool of reporters inside the clinic, Harris said the conservative backers of the new anti-abortion laws were “extremists.” She added that these new laws would make it difficult for pregnant women to receive emergency care. Furthermore, many clinics providing reproductive and sexual healthcare to millions of Americans would shut down.
“These attacks against an individual’s right to make decisions about their own body are outrageous and, in many instances, just plain old immoral,” she said. “How dare these elected leaders believe they are in a better position to tell women what they need, to tell women what is in their best interest. We have to be a nation that trusts women.”
The potential overturning of Roe v. Wade has dramatically shifted this landscape, galvanizing a new generation of voters who passionately support abortion rights. According to party strategists, this issue has emerged as one of the Democrats’ key strengths. President Biden, in speeches like his recent State of the Union address, frames abortion rights as integral to personal freedom and the right to make private healthcare decisions.
Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster with over four decades of experience, noted that she couldn’t recall a time when abortion rights were as motivating for Democratic voters as they are now.
“It’s the No. 1 issue working for Democrats at every level in office,” she told The New York Times. “Everything from county commissioners to presidents are being elected around this issue.”
