VP Kamala Harris hosts reproductive freedom campaign event in Phoenix

PHOENIX — The Biden-Harris campaign wants to make one thing clear to voters: Former President Donald Trump is responsible for overturning Roe v. Wade.

That message was the focal point of Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign stop in downtown Phoenix on Monday afternoon. The Democrat held a reproductive freedom event at Warehouse 215 on the two-year anniversary of the Dobbs decision, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.  

Harris said Trump, who is also the presumptive Republican nominee for president, is responsible because he nominated three U.S. Supreme Court justices who voted in favor of giving the decision of abortions rights back to the states.

Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch (2017), Brett Kavanaugh (2018) and Amy Coney Barrett (2020). All voted to overturn Roe v. Wade.

At the time, Arizona had two competing abortion laws on the books.

One, a 15-week ban with no exceptions for rape or incest singed into law by then-Governor Doug Ducey, and a pre-statehood near total ban on abortion that dates to 1864 and makes no exceptions unless the mother’s life is in danger.

The 1864 ban was repealed by the state Legislature this session, but the 15-week ban will remain the law until the repeal goes into effect on Sept. 14.

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Harris said Arizona women shouldn’t have to travel to get the healthcare they need.

“Women going through miscarriage, going to an emergency room for care, being denied care because the people at the hospital are afraid, they’ll be criminalized for providing care,” Harris said. 

Harris participated in a reproductive freedom panel with actress Francia Raisa, who is known for her roles in “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” and “How I Met Your Father.”

The discussion was moderated by Anna Tovar, the commissioner of the Arizona Corporation Commission.

Harris said to pay attention to whom the abortion bans are affecting.

“Forty percent of Latinas in reproductive age live in a state with an abortion ban,” Harris said. “Not to mention, if you look at it, a majority of Black women live in the South. Every state in the South except for Virginia has an abortion ban.”  

Harris also addressed President Joe Biden’s recent executive order on immigration.

DACA recipient and mother Maria Leon asked Harris why Biden took executive action to help DACA recipients, like herself, and Dreamers. She said she now has a path to citizenship because of it.

Harris responded, “The least we can do as a country is recognize who you are and your value to all of us.”

The executive order allows undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens protections from deportation and an expedited path to citizenship if they’ve lived here for more than 10 years. Harris said the protections apply to their children as well.  

Harris warned a second Trump presidency would mean threats to more freedoms like contraceptive and in vitro fertilization (IVF).

“One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply-held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling her what to do with her body,” Harris said.

She promised to keep fighting for reproductive freedom if reelected with Biden in November.