Kamala Harris, Vice President of the United States, kicks off a national tour dedicated to defending access to abortions in Wisconsin, a state that will be highly contested in the upcoming presidential election in the fall.
An assault against Donald Trump
With the support of Joe Biden, the duo launches an assault against Donald Trump on the right to abortion, a topic that could prove decisive in the November elections in the United States.
“How dare he?” emphasizes the vice president, who calls for “clarity” on the person responsible for the setback in abortion rights in the United States, which, according to her, is Donald Trump, the former president and current frontrunner in the Republican primaries.
The Supreme Court, which became significantly conservative through appointments by Donald Trump, ruled that the right to abortion was not guaranteed by the Constitution, and individual states had jurisdiction.
Roe v. Wade decision, withdrawn in June 2022
During this January, America marked the 51st anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, which in 1973 established a constitutional right to abortion nationwide.
This right shattered in June 2022. The American religious right had strongly mobilized against this right since its inception.
Currently, around twenty states have banned abortion or imposed severe restrictions. In some cases, healthcare professionals are threatened with severe penalties.
“I met a woman who went to the emergency room for a miscarriage and was turned away because doctors were afraid of going to prison if they treated her. She only received care after declaring sepsis,” recounts Kamala Harris, still alongside Joe Biden for the November elections.
Donald Trump, “proud” of this jurisprudential reversal
Donald Trump, the overwhelming favorite in the Republican primaries, recently expressed his pride in contributing to this shift in jurisprudence. A reaction commented on by the vice president, indignant: “Proud that today’s young women have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers? How dare he?” Applauded by the audience that had previously booed the reference to the Republican magnate.
Taking aim at Republicans, she asserts that “these extremists want to take us backward. We won’t accept it!” The Democratic president, for his part, convened a working group at the White House dedicated to defending the right to abortion, which remains a significant political fault line in the United States. He also criticized decisions made in conservative states.
“These extremist laws have no place in the United States”
“I don’t believe there should be laws telling a man what to do with his body,” said Corinda Rainey-Moore to AFP, who came to hear the vice president.
“I want my daughter, and perhaps her daughter one day, to have the same rights I had,” added Irene Parthum, a retiree also in attendance.
“These extremist laws have no place in the United States,” assured Joe Biden, particularly criticizing the Attorney General of Alabama (South), for wanting to prosecute anyone assisting a family member in obtaining an abortion elsewhere.
“That’s what happens when the right to privacy is attacked,” said the American president. According to polls, the vast majority of Americans support the right to abortion. The shock caused by the Supreme Court’s new jurisprudence allowed Joe Biden to mitigate losses in the midterm elections of the fall of 2022, and the American president believes he will capitalize on the same momentum in November.
Kamala Harris tests her electoral firepower
The offensive on abortion rights will also be a test of the electoral strength of Kamala Harris, the first woman and first African American in her position, who has been working the ground for a few weeks.
Denigrated by the Republican opposition on any occasion, the 59-year-old Democrat recently received a rare, probably unintentional, compliment from a Fox News commentator. “What Kamala is doing (in terms of campaigning for abortion rights) has a powerful impact on young women,” commented former Donald Trump spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany on the conservatives’ favorite channel.