‘Trump Did This’: Vice President Kamala Harris on the Current Abortion Bans
Two years ago last week, a draft opinion leaked, revealing that the United States Supreme Court planned to overturn Roe v. Wade. “Most of us remember where we were when we heard the news,” Vice President Kamala Harris said in an opening statement for the annual We Are EMILY gala hosted by EMILYs List, the political action committee that helps Democratic women in favor of abortion rights get elected.
“[I] made a prediction that overturning Roe would be the opening shot in a full-on assault state by state on reproductive freedom,” Harris continued, “and that is exactly what has happened.”
Since then, laws have been passed to criminalize doctors providing abortion care. For women in Texas, high-risk pregnancies have become even more perilous. And the future of birth control and in vitro fertilization hangs in the balance. “Former President Donald Trump did this,” Harris said in her speech. “Donald Trump hand-picked three members of the United States Supreme Court because he intended for them to overturn Roe. And as he intended, they did.”
The vice president then made the political personal by bringing up one of her best friends from high school, who she says was molested by her step-father. “The idea that someone who survives a crime of violence to their body, a violation of their body, would not have the authority and ability to make a decision about what happens to their body next, that’s immoral,” Harris said. “I know we all agree. One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply-held beliefs to agree that the government should not be telling her what to do with her body.”
As the first president or vice president in history to visit a reproductive health clinic, Harris has seen first-hand the devastating impact that denying someone access to essential health care has. “To be clear, Donald Trump is the architect of this crisis,” Harris said in her We Are EMILY speech. “And this is not a fact he even tries to hide. In fact, he brags about it. He has said the collection of abortion bans in the states is ‘working the way it’s supposed to.’”
Since the overturn of Roe, Harris has held more than 60 events focused on abortion rights and brought together 250-plus legislators from 28 states. And as the country prepares for the 2024 presidential election, Harris is bringing attention to the possibility of a national abortion ban—and what that would mean for the future of abortion care: “Enough with the gaslighting, because we all know that, if Donald Trump gets the chance, he will sign a national abortion ban.” The vice president painted a dystopian Trump second-term, with more bans and less freedom. “But we are not going to let that happen,” she said. “This November, reproductive freedom is on the ballot... Let us not be deterred. Momentum is on our side.”
The vice president’s remarks were preceded by an opening statement from Amanda Zurawski, who recounted her harrowing near-death experience after being denied an abortion in Texas. In a previous interview with ELLE, Zurawski said that she is focusing on “harnessing motivation into action,” and that she hopes to “shine a light on how harmful abortion bans are.” Zurawski also says she wants to “change hearts and minds on the topic of abortion, and ultimately change votes.”
The theme of the We Are EMILY gala was “The Time is Now: Elect Democratic Pro-Choice Women,” featuring additional speeches from EMILYs List’s President Jessica Mackler, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, and former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, among others. Sen. Duckworth, who has been vocal about the importance of IVF access, was presented with the We Are EMILY Award.
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