Vice President Kamala Harris Expected to Discuss Reproductive Rights During Atlanta Rally
ATLANTA – Vice President Kamala Harris is set to return to Atlanta on Friday to address issues surrounding women’s health and reproductive rights. During the rally, she is anticipated to openly criticize former President Donald Trump, who has publicly taken credit for the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
A spokesperson for Harris stated that the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has led to a series of abortion bans which have had devastating consequences for women. Harris’s visit comes just days after a detailed report on the death of 28-year-old Amber Thurman, who experienced a rare complication from an abortion pill at Piedmont Henry Hospital in August 2022. The report indicated that what should have been a routine procedure was delayed over concerns of violating the 2019 Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act, also known as the Georgia heartbeat bill.
Georgia’s law bans most abortions once a “detectable human heartbeat” is present, which can be as early as six weeks. The law includes exceptions for rape and incest, provided a police report is filed, and allows for later abortions if the mother’s life is at risk or if a serious medical condition renders the fetus unviable. In Thurman’s case, a procedure was not performed until 20 hours after she was admitted, by which time it was too late. Thurman had developed a severe infection and was already in organ failure.
Consequences of Overturning Roe v. Wade
After the ProPublica report was released, Vice President Harris made a statement earlier this week: “This is exactly what we feared when Roe was struck down. In more than 20 states, Trump Abortion Bans are preventing doctors from providing basic medical care,” Harris said. “Women are bleeding out in parking lots, turned away from emergency rooms, losing their ability to ever have children again. Survivors of rape and incest are being told they cannot make decisions about what happens next to their bodies. And now, women are dying. These are the consequences of Donald Trump’s actions.”
Controversial Responses
On the other side of the aisle, Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance defended the Supreme Court decision, supporting the GOP’s stance on abortion rights. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, who signed the so-called heartbeat bill into law in 2019, emphasized in a statement that “It is self-evident that dangerous misinformation places patients’ lives at risk, which is why getting the facts right is vitally important.” Kemp added, “Georgia’s LIFE Act not only expanded support for expectant mothers but also established clear exceptions, including providing necessary care in the event of a medical emergency. In Georgia, we will always fight for and protect the lives of the most vulnerable among us.”
Trump has yet to address the ProPublica reports and during a recent presidential debate, he did not respond when asked if he would sign a national abortion ban into law if reelected. Meanwhile, organizations like the ACLU of Georgia have filed lawsuits challenging Georgia’s abortion ban. Andrea Young, ACLU of Georgia’s executive director, commented, “It’s a tragedy. It is something that reflects the irresponsible nature of Georgia’s six-week ban…the very real threat to women’s health was simply not a priority for the legislature or the governor.”
Cross-Country Campaign Efforts
Gwen Walz, wife of vice-presidential hopeful Tim Walz, also weighed in on reproductive rights during a rally for Educators for Harris-Walz in Augusta. Walz highlighted how the current laws are “criminalizing women’s reproductive health care nationwide,” making it harder to access birth control and putting fertility treatments at risk. Sharing her personal story, Walz added, “If it would have been up to them, I wouldn’t have been able to have children. And if it were up to Mr. Vance, I would have been a second-class citizen, in his view.”
The impact of these reproductive rights discussions on the upcoming election remains to be seen. As the Harris-Walz and Trump-Vance campaigns rally their supporters, reproductive freedoms are proving to be a pivotal issue among voters.
