Vice President Kamala Harris spoke on abortion rights while campaigning for President Joe Biden at an event in Tuscon, Arizona, on April 12. Her comments came days after the state Supreme Courtâs move to uphold the stateâs restrictive abortion policy.
The Arizona Supreme Courtâs April 8 decision on the 160-year-old law bans abortions except in cases where the life of the mother is at risk.
Ms. Harris spoke at the âreproductive freedomâ rally about the court ruling, calling it âone of the biggest aftershocks yetâ since the 2022 overturning of the 1973 Supreme Court ruling on Roe v. Wade.
âHere in Arizona, they have turned back the clock to the 1800s to take away a womanâs most fundamental right, the right to make decisions about her own body … What has happened here in Arizona is a new inflection point,â Ms. Harris said. âIt has demonstrated, once and for all, that overturning Roe was just the opening act.
âWe all must understand who is to blame. Former president, Donald Trump.â
Starting in January, Ms. Harris has been traveling around the nation on a reproductive rights tour, claiming that the outcome of the election will determine the fate of abortion rights.
The issue of abortion has been at the forefront of the Biden campaign, with both President Joe Biden and Ms. Harris campaigning on former President Donald Trumpâs Supreme Court Justice picksâ contribution to the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Womenâs Health Organization decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.
Ms. Harrisâs campaign has prioritized abortion rights, asserting that the vice president is in a unique position to take the lead on this issue. The matter has occupied the vice presidentâs attention since 2021.
Ruling Fallout
Strategists in both parties predicted that the Arizona ruling, which criminalizes almost all abortions, would energize young voters and voters of color while also shifting moderates with Republican leanings toward the Democratic Party.
Ms. Harris has been tasked by President Biden to lead the administrationâs response to the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning the abortion rights landmark Roe v. Wade decision and to reach core liberal voters undecided on the presidentâs candidacy for a second four-year term.
In the 2020 election, President Biden is reported to have defeated Republican opponent President Donald Trump by a margin of less than 11,000 votes out of a total of 3.3 million ballots cast in Arizona. This represented the narrowest margin of victory for the Democrats in any state.
At the Tucson rally, Ms. Harris took aim at the previous administration as she spoke to reproductive health providers and patients.
âHereâs what a second Trump term looks likeâmore bans, more suffering, and less freedom,â Ms. Harris said. âJust like he did in Arizona, he basically wants to take America back to the 1800s. But we are not going to let that happen.â
The vice presidentâs Arizona visit was heralded by a seven-figure media/TV ad buy that focused on abortion access, with billboards highlighting the 1864 law lining Arizona highways by April 10.
Marson Media CEO Barrett Marion, who also serves as a Phoenix-based GOP campaign consultant, told The Epoch Times, âThis certainly will impact a lot of the races and, you know, two days ago, I would have put Arizona as âLean Trump,â and now I think I would put this as âLean Biden.â
âTrump has only been up by a couple of points in most polls, so this isnât a 30-point swing, but I would say that this now gives an advantage to Joe Biden.â
From Other Candidates
In the tight Arizona Senate race, candidate Kari Lake reacted to criticism that her abortion position was inconsistent by including a âbaby bonusâ bill with her campaign promises.
The former Arizona newscaster is running against Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) to succeed Sen. Krysten Sinema (I-Ariz.) in November.
If elected, she promised to sponsor a bill that would give couples tax cuts when they marry and additional cuts for each child, which, in addition to child tax credits, would lower the overall rate of taxation.
Ms. Harris met Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz during her March 14 stop at the clinic and offered a brief speech, saying, in part: âRight 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.â
Reuters and John Haughey contributed to this report.
Original News Source Link – Epoch Times
Running For Office? Conservative Campaign Consulting – Election Day Strategies!

