Kamala Harris Becomes First VP to Visit Planned Parenthood Abortion Business

Vice President Kamala Harris made history Thursday while on the campaign trail in Minnesota, stumping for President Joe Biden’s administration; she became the highest-level government official to make a political stop at a Planned Parenthood abortion business.

After touring a St. Paul facility with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Dr. Sarah Traxler, the chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood North Central States,  the vice president made a brief speech and took questions from the media.

“Right now in our country, we are facing a very serious health crisis, and the crisis is affecting many, many people in our country, most of whom are frankly, silently suffering after the United States Supreme Court took a constitutional right that had been recognized, from the people of America, from the women of America,” Ms. Harris said.

“Extremists” have passed laws that have “denied women access to reproductive health care,” she said, adding that she holds out Minnesota as an example of what true leadership looks like.

The Minnesota legislature passed an abortion-up-to-birth law last year, and it may soon push to enshrine unlimited abortion in the state Constitution.

“It is only right and fair that people have access to the health care they need and that they have access to health care in an environment where they are treated with dignity and respect,” Ms. Harris said.

Two Minnesota media polls (from KSTP/Survey USA and Star Tribune/MPR News/KARE 11 ) show that only 30 percent of Minnesotans favor abortion without limits, the state’s current policy according to Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL).

“The vice president’s visit shows the Biden administration’s full-blown devotion to extreme abortion policies,” said MCCL Co-Executive Director Cathy Blaeser in a statement. “Minnesota is an outlier after enacting an abortion-up-to-birth law and abolishing a program that supported pregnant women. That’s why Vice President Harris came here.

“But unlimited abortion harms women and children. Most Minnesotans don’t want what Harris, Biden, and [the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL)] lawmakers are selling.”

‘Proud Abortion Provider’

Since Roe V. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2022, Planned Parenthood in Minnesota has seen a 25 percent increase in abortions and a nearly 100 percent increase in serving women from outside Minnesota.

“I am a proud abortion provider. And I’m honored that Vice President Kamala Harris has visited our clinic today,” Ms. Traxler said, adding that abortion is “critically important” to people both in Minnesota and across the country.

“I’ve cared for patients from everywhere. From nearby states like South Dakota and North Dakota and Wisconsin. But also from faraway states like Texas, Alabama, Wyoming, Florida, Oklahoma, Missouri, and the list goes on,” she said.

“I’ve seen patients who’ve flown from places like Louisiana only to have me tell her that her complex pregnancy condition would keep her from having her abortion here with me, forcing her to continue a dangerous pregnancy because hospital-based care was not available to her in her home state.”

The majority of women who have abortions are already mothers, Ms. Harris said, and “God help her,” that she’s got affordable childcare, and if she is working, paid family leave, so she can take the time to get an abortion.

“Minnesotans don’t want to be known for abortion tourism. We don’t want to be the place where no babies are safe and where mothers too often don’t get the support and options they need,” Ms. Blaeser said. “But that’s where DFL lawmakers have taken us, and now they want to go even further.”

This year, a proposed version of the Equal Rights Amendment would enshrine unlimited abortion in the Minnesota Constitution.

“In 2024 and beyond, we will keep fighting. We will keep working until we live in a world where everyone can access the care they decide is best for their futures, and their bodies, and in their own community,” Ms. Traxler said.

Elections Matter

The abortion debate is primed to be one of the key issues in the 2024 election, and Democrats are keenly aware of this.

“In this environment, these attacks against an individual’s right to make decisions about their own bodies are outrageous, and in many instances, just plain immoral,” Ms. Harris said in a soft but stern tone, making eye contact with individuals around the room.

“How dare these elected leaders believe they are in a better position to tell women what they need—to tell them what is in their best interest. We have to be a nation that trusts women.”

The people gathered at Planned Parenthood leaned into this comment and applauded enthusiastically when she finished speaking.

“One point that must be made on this issue, as we attempt to uplift the real stories and the real consequences of the Dobbs decision, is to remind people elections matter,” Ms. Harris said, adding that the re-election of the Democratic governor and the Democrat-led state legislature is what has led to “ensuring that these fundamental rights are intact and are protected.”

Ms. Harris said one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling women what to do with their bodies. If a woman chooses, she can consult with her priest, pastor, rabbi, her Imam, but the government should not tell her what she can and cannot do.

During a short question-and-answer session with reporters, Ms. Harris was asked about the Minnesota primary results in which more than 45,000 Democratic voters picked “uncommitted” on their ballot instead of President Biden. She breezed past that question with no acknowledgment or reply.