Kamala Harris fired up the Democratic base Friday as she blamed Donald Trump for women’s suffering under the “Trump abortion ban.”
Speaking at a rally in Atlanta, Harris blamed Trump for the fall of Roe v. Wade and the abortion restrictions that states subsequently enacted. And she ridiculed her opponent’s debate performance, in which he touted his record on abortion.
“In our debate last week—” Harris said before she was interrupted by laughter and applause. “Well, that was fun,” she said, before turning serious, saying, “But I know everyone here paid attention to the words, though, the words, right?”
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Someone in the audience shouted something about another debate. “I’m trying to get another debate, we’ll see,” she said. “But in our debate last week, remember when he said everyone wanted Roe v. Wade to be overturned?”
Her supporters screamed their opposition. “Exactly, I don’t know where everyone is either,” she said. “Well, exactly. I don’t know where everyone is, either. Women have been arrested and charged for miscarriages. They didn’t want that.”
A key issue for Democrats since 2022, when the Supreme Court opened the floodgates for states to outlaw abortion-related care, reproductive rights are at the forefront of Harris’ campaign playbook. Support for abortion access has grown, with a majority of Americans now saying the procedure should be legal in all or most cases.
At times on Friday, Harris grew emotional as she spoke about maternal mortality, as she did on Wednesday night in an interview with Oprah Winfrey. She singled out the “preventable” death of Amber Thurman, a Georgia woman who, according to medical experts, would have survived had Georgia laws allowed her access to a routine life-saving procedure.
"Amber’s mother, Shanette, she told me that the word ‘preventable’ is over and over again in her head when she learned about how her child died,” Harris said. “The word ‘preventable.’ She cannot stop thinking about the word that they spoke to her: it was preventable. Because you see, medical experts have now determined that Amber’s death was preventable.”
When Harris repeated Thurman’s name, the crowd chanted along. “We will make sure that Amber is not just remembered as a statistic,” Harris said to applause. The nonprofit news organization ProPublica said it is investigating other deaths that appear to be connected to abortion bans.
“These hypocrites want to start talking about, ‘This is in the best interest of women and children?’” she asked, fire in her voice. “Well, where ya been? Where ya been when it comes to taking care of the women and children of America? Where ya been? How dare they.”
