policy
ATLANTA (AP) — Kamala Harris sharply criticized Donald Trump, calling him a threat to women's freedom and their lives. In a speech within the swing state of Georgia on Friday, she warned that Republicans would proceed to dam access to abortion if he returns to the White House.
The Democratic vice chairman's visit got here days after ProPublica reported that two women within the state had died because they didn’t receive proper medical treatment resulting from complications from taking abortion pills to terminate their pregnancies.
Such deaths, Harris said, weren’t only preventable but predictable, resulting from laws which have been in place for the reason that U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Although Georgia's ban allows abortions in early pregnancy to avoid wasting the mother's life, starting at six weeks of pregnancy, critics have said the law has created dangerous confusion amongst doctors about after they can perform the procedure.
“A good policy, a logical policy, a moral policy, a humane policy is to say that a health care provider will not begin care until you are dying?” Harris asked.
Harris told the story of Amber Thurman, a mother who selected to have an abortion when she became pregnant again.
“She had her future completely planned,” Harris said. “And it was her plan. What she wanted to do for herself, for her son, for their future together.”
However, Thurman had to attend greater than 20 hours within the hospital for a routine medical procedure called a D&C to remove the tissue left over after taking the abortion pills. She developed sepsis and died.
“She was loved,” Harris said. “And she should still be alive today.”
Harris has been an outspoken advocate for abortion rights for the reason that Supreme Court's decision greater than two years ago, but Friday's speech in Atlanta was her first to explicitly concentrate on the problem since she replaced President Joe Biden because the Democratic nominee.
Harris heard from Thurman's mother and sisters Thursday evening.
During a live-streamed campaign rally hosted by Oprah Winfrey and attended by Harris, Shanette Williams, Thurman's mother, tearfully told viewers that “people around the world need to know that this was preventable.” Williams said she initially didn’t need to make her daughter's death public in 2022, but ultimately decided it was necessary for people to grasp that her daughter “was not a statistic. She was loved.”
Harris told the family: “I am so sorry. The courage you have all shown is extraordinary.”
At a second rally on Friday, she spoke about Thurman to a roaring crowd within the swing state of Wisconsin. In the Democratic stronghold and state capital of Madison, she called the bans imposed in greater than 20 states “immoral” and warned against one other Trump term.
“We are not going back,” Harris said.
Trump has repeatedly said he’s happy with his role in overturning Roe v. Wade by appointing conservative justices during his time in office. He has also said he supports exceptions to the abortion ban in cases of rape, incest or when the lifetime of the mother is threatened.
Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Trump's campaign, said that since such exceptions exist in Georgia, it’s “unclear why doctors did not act quickly to protect the lives of the mothers.”
Abortion opponents and doctors argued Friday that the ladies's deaths raised questions on the protection of taking abortion pills at home with no doctor's supervision. Abortion opponents have been pushing for tighter restrictions on the pills for years, most recently within the U.S. Supreme Court, where an try and restrict availability failed.
“Women believe it is perfectly safe for them to order these drugs online,” Christina Francis, an anti-abortion activist from Fort Wayne, Indiana, told reporters on Friday.
Since 2000, the FDA has approved a two-drug regimen of mifepristone and misoprostol as a secure method to terminate pregnancies as much as 10 weeks of gestation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the FDA has eliminated the requirement for an in-person visit to acquire the medications. Reported complications are rare, and a pair of.6% of cases require surgical intervention to terminate the pregnancy.
Dozens of pregnant patients have faced delayed treatment or been turned away from hospitals over the past two years resulting from medical emergencies, a violation of federal law for the reason that U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Violations have occurred in each states with and without abortion bans. But an AP evaluation earlier this yr found that some states with abortion bans, including Texas, saw a right away spike in cases after the ruling.
Dr. Nisha Verma, a gynecologist from Georgia, said the six-week ban had created “an atmosphere of massive fear, confusion and uncertainty” within the medical community.
She said Republican lawmakers who are actually blaming hospitals and doctors are seeing the impact of the laws in real time.
“The law prevents us from providing evidence-based care without having to think about the risk of criminal prosecution,” she said.
With three states – Virginia, South Dakota and Minnesota – opening up in-person voting on Friday, Harris' campaign hopes the problem of reproductive rights might be a powerful motivator for Democrats. The party points to a string of election victories where abortion rights were on the ballot, and supporters consider Harris is a powerful messenger.
About half of voters say abortion is one of the crucial necessary issues when considering learn how to vote — but registered female voters care more about it than male voters, a brand new AP-NORC poll finds. About 6 in 10 female voters say abortion policy is one of the crucial necessary issues for the way they’ll vote within the upcoming election, in comparison with about 4 in 10 male voters.
The gender gap doesn’t end here.
About 6 in 10 female voters trust Harris greater than Trump on the abortion issue, while about 2 in 10 women trust Trump more. Half of male voters trust Harris greater than Trump on the abortion issue, while a couple of third trust Trump greater than Harris.
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