Harris brings new energy to abortion attacks against Trump
Vice President Harris is breathing renewed excitement into Democratic efforts to rally its voters around the issue of abortion after taking over President Biden’s campaign to beat former President Trump in November.
Both Harris and President Biden have hammered into Republicans when it came to abortion but Biden — the second Catholic president elected to the Oval Office — has always been a bit squeamish on the topic, notably avoiding using the word “abortion” during most public remarks.
Harris, with a career-long history of supporting abortion access, has become the White House’s de facto voice for preserving reproductive rights since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago.
“I think the difference that you are going to see with Vice President Harris ... is that she's going to be expansive,” said Jennifer Driver, senior director of reproductive rights at the progressive advocacy group SiX Action.
“I think it energizes the base,” Driver added. “I liken it to a balloon — we kind of felt deflated. I feel like her presumptive nomination breathed life into this balloon that we were wanting to kind of witness.”
The vice president embarked on her Reproductive Freedoms Tour at the start of this year, crisscrossing the country to speak about abortion access and attack Trump for appointing the justices who struck down long-standing federal abortion protections. Earlier this year, she became the first U.S. vice president to visit an abortion clinic.
Leading reproductive rights groups and their PACs were quick to jump on board Harris’s campaign this week, as she seeks to nail down the Democratic nomination at next month’s Democratic National Convention.
Women Vote, the super PAC affiliated with EMILY's List, launched its first 30-second ad supporting Harris's campaign Monday, taking direct aim at Trump on abortion. "They'll stop at nothing," it says, followed by a clip of Trump saying he "got rid of Roe v. Wade."
"But Kamala Harris won't back down," it continues.
According to Nourbese Flint, president of the abortion rights group All in Action Fund, the distinction between Harris and Biden is that the vice president is “incredibly comfortable on the stump on abortion access.”
Harris’s up-close engagement about abortion at the state level will be a crucial tool in her arsenal to reach voters, Flint predicted.
“I've been in rooms with her where we've brought state legislators from these really challenging states, kind of the red states, and she was right there next to those legislators,” Driver said. “And so, when she goes into the states and talks about abortion — especially in the Arizonas and the North Carolinas and Floridas — it comes off very authentic.”
Abortion remains a vulnerable issue for the GOP. During the Republican National Convention last week, the word “abortion” was barely uttered over the four-day event.
“In every other Republican convention in modern times that we've seen, their speakers are constantly bringing up wanting to ban abortion and all this. And it was notably absent from their core speeches,” said Ryan Stitzlein, vice president of political and government relations at Reproductive Freedom for All.
“Let's be clear: That's not because Republicans have had some sort of grand reversal in policy on abortion. It's because they know this issue is politically toxic for them,” Stitzlein continued. “They know when they're talking about abortion, they're losing. And with Kamala Harris as our nominee, that's not an option for them. She is going to take this issue to them every single day.”
Trump has declined to commit to abortion restrictions at the federal level, repeatedly saying it should be left up to states. He made no mention of abortion in his record-long, hour-and-a-half acceptance speech at the convention.
Trump’s vice presidential pick, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), also avoided the issue at the convention but carries significant baggage on it. He has previously expressed support for a national abortion ban, as well as opposition to exceptions for rape and incest.
Before he was announced as Trump’s running mate, Vance gradually reshaped how he spoke about abortion, echoing the former president’s approach.
"President Trump has long been consistent in supporting the rights of states to make decisions on abortion,” Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign national press secretary, said Monday.
“Kamala Harris and the Democrats are radically out of touch with the majority of Americans in their support for abortion up until birth and even after birth, and forcing taxpayers to fund it."
The Harris campaign did not immediately respond when reached for comment by The Hill.
Driver, from SiX Action, acknowledged Harris can’t build her reproductive rights campaign strategy purely off attacking Trump, and must present “a vision for what U.S. policy beyond Roe actually looks like.”
Christina Reynolds, senior vice president at EMILY's List, said Harris must also highlight what is at stake in the election and make clear the contrast between her and the Trump ticket.
“He is an existential threat to our reproductive freedom, and I think we will continue to see her raise that issue,” Reynolds said. “But also, just note the stakes.”
Major anti-abortion groups quickly zeroed in on Harris’s abortion record, characterizing her as overly focused on the issue.
“Harris is so committed to abortion that she can’t see anything else – including the developmental stages of children before birth or the real needs of women,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. “While Joe Biden has trouble saying the word abortion, Kamala Harris shouts it.”
Kristi Hamrick, vice president of media and policy at Students for Life of America, said, “As Kamala ‘border czar’ Harris' loudest advocacy is on abortion, voters have to ask themselves is ending life in the womb something that overrides rising crime and inflation rates and general malaise."
While these groups argue Harris’s focus is a detriment to other issues voters care about, reproductive rights advocates say it’s a talking point that will boost voter turnout among key demographics.
“It helps move young voters to turn out for Democrats; it helps move women including independent women; it helps move voters of color,” Reynolds from EMILY's List said. “I am not worried about her being attacked by Republicans on this, because they are on the wrong side of voters on this issue.”