As election season begins to heat up, Vice President Kamala Harris is marking herself as the Biden administration’s most-spoken advocate of abortion rights, a highly contended issue some critics say will define the outcome of the 2024 presidential elections.
On Monday, Harris officially launched the Reproductive Freedoms Tour, a nationwide tour to fight extremist attacks and provide a platform for Americans to voice their views on making decisions about their bodies. The Nationwide Reproductive Freedoms tour kicks off in Wisconsin on Jan. 22, the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade.
Since taking office almost four years ago, Harris has faced a slew of critiques about her ability to take on complex issues, specifically migration and voting rights. But where she hasn’t fallen short on is reproductive rights, analysts say.
The anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark Dobbs decision was the impetus for Harris to begin her quest around the country, galvanizing both red and blue states in addition to swing states to speak to women affected by abortion bans.
“Extremists across our country continue to wage a full-on attack against hard-won, hard-fought freedoms as they push their radical policies – from banning abortion in all 50 states and criminalizing doctors, to forcing women to travel out of state in order to get the care they need,” Harris said last December in a White House press release. “I will continue to fight for our fundamental freedoms while bringing together those throughout America who agree that every woman should have the right to make decisions about her own body – not the government.”
When Harris ran for California’s attorney general in 2010, several pro-abortion groups endorsed her candidacy and have stuck by her since. Nine years later when she ran for president during the 2020 elections, she pledged to require states with a record of restricting abortions to gain clearance from the Department of Justice before enacting abortion laws.
Abortion rights have been a key issue for Harris even before the Dobbs decision in 2022.
In a statement, Harris’ Biden-Harris 2024 campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, said “Donald Trump is the reason that more than 1 in 3 American women of reproductive age don’t have the freedom to make their own health care decisions. Now, he and MAGA Republicans are running to go even further if they retake the White House.
She continued: “In 2024, a vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris is a vote to restore Roe, and a vote for Donald Trump is a vote to ban abortion across the country. These are the stakes in 2024 and we’re going to continue to make sure that every single voter knows it.”
