Vice President Kamala Harris plans to satisfy with abortion providers and staff members on Thursday in the Twin Cities. The visit is believed to be the president or vp’s first stop at an abortion clinic.
The appearance on the health facility will be the newest stage in a nationwide journey for Ms. Harris, who has emerged because the administration’s most staunch defender of abortion rights. Although White House officials say they’ve largely reached the boundaries of their authority to guard abortion rights, the problem has change into a pillar of their re-election strategy.
Ms. Harris plans to tour the power with an abortion provider on Thursday and highlight what the administration has done to preserve access to the procedure as conservative states impose increasing restrictions.
Minnesota has change into a haven for abortion seekers because the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, introducing restrictive laws and bans in neighboring states. The Family Planning Association, a health research organization, found that the common variety of abortions in the state increased by roughly 36 percent one 12 months after the Supreme Court’s decision.
Last 12 months, Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill adding abortion rights into state law, attempting to make sure the procedure stays legal irrespective of who takes office in the state. Ms. Harris will be joined on Thursday by Minnesota Democrats, including Mr. Walz and Representative Betty McCollum.
The mere sight of a top Democratic official walking into an abortion clinic will be the clearest illustration yet of how the politics of abortion rights have modified for the party – and the nation.
For a long time, many Democrats avoided direct discussions on what their strategists viewed as a divisive issue. Instead, significant numbers focused on the complexity, using slogans like “safe, legal and rare” and joining with Republicans to oppose taxpayer funding of the procedure through the Hyde Amendment.
But the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade upended that old policy, creating an energetic coalition of voters that, with support for abortion rights, helped Democrats win a series of federal and state races. From the newest KFF surveya nonprofit health policy group found that one in five voters said abortion was the “most important issue” on the ballot in 2024, and a majority supported a bill guaranteeing a federal right to abortion.
President Biden’s campaign is specializing in abortion, running ads featuring testimonials from women who were denied access to the procedure in conservative states and highlighting former President Donald J. Trump’s role in appointing three justices who voted to overturn Roe.
Biden has promised to revive federal abortion rights and preserve access to medical abortion, amid latest risks arising from a case that will be argued before the Supreme Court this month.
The assurances represent a notable escalation on the problem from Mr. Biden, a practicing Catholic who has been caught for a long time between his religious opposition to his party’s procedure and policies. He barely mentioned abortion rights during his 2020 campaign, reflecting his discomfort with discussing the problem and the way little his strategists believed that abortion energized swing voters.
This time, Biden raised the problem as an issue of private freedom and the proper to make decisions about private health care. However, he still expressed some concern in regards to the procedure itself, often avoiding saying the word “abortion”. In his State of the Union address his prepared remarks she challenged him to say “abortion” in reference to a Texas woman who was unable to hunt the procedure attributable to state law. Instead, he said Texas “prohibited her ability to act.”
Biden prefers to debate the problem in the context of restoring Roe through congressional laws. Legislation codifying federal abortion rights would have little probability of passage, given Democrats’ slim majority in the Senate and disagreements inside the president’s party over the scope of such laws.
Ms. Harris took a rather more assertive approach. During the tour, she visited five states to discuss abortion rights and described the spread of anti-abortion laws in Republican states as a “health care crisis” for girls.
Reid J. Epstein reporting contributed.
