Kamala Harris Gives First Speech Focused On Abortion Rights As Dem Nominee

Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday delivered a powerful speech on abortion rights — her first address to focus solely on reproductive rights and the dire landscape for pregnant people in a post-Roe v. Wade world since she became the Democratic presidential nominee.

Harris spoke at a rally in Atlanta, where she was surrounded by supporters holding “Trust women” signs and by placards reading, “1 in 3 women lives under a Trump abortion ban,” a reference to states limiting reproductive health care since the Supreme Court repealed Roe v. Wade. Harris hosted the event in the wake of devastating reporting from ProPublica about two Georgia women, both Black mothers, who died because they did not receive proper medical treatment after using abortion pills.

“The reality is, for every story we hear of the suffering under Trump abortion bans, there are so many of the stories we’re not hearing,” Harris said, referring to the nearly two dozen states that have enacted abortion restrictions. “Women who are also being made to feel as though they did something wrong … being made as though to feel as though they are criminals, as though they are alone.”

“To those women, to those families, I say on behalf of what I believe we all say: We see you and you are not alone, and we are all here standing with you,” she told the crowd, which gave her a standing ovation.

Harris called Republicans “hypocrites” for enacting abortion bans while ignoring the country’s maternal mortality crisis. So-called maternity care deserts are growing, with 1 in 3 U.S. counties or more than 2.3 million women of reproductive age lacking obstetric care — a partial result of post-Roe abortion bans.

“These hypocrites want to start talking about ‘This is in the best interest of women and children,’” she said. “Well, where’ve you been? Where’ve you been when it comes to taking care of the women and children of America? Where’ve you been? How dare they.”

Georgia currently bans abortion after approximately six weeks of pregnancy, a time when many people don’t know they’re pregnant. ProPublica reported that Amber Nicole Thurman, 28, was forced to drive out of her home state to get an abortion in 2022, but experienced a complication when she got home and had to go to the hospital. Although Thurman was in tremendous pain and deteriorating quickly, providers reportedly delayed lifesaving care for 20 hours, apparently fearful of criminal punishment included in the state’s abortion ban. Thurman eventually died, leaving behind a 6-year-old son, ProPublica wrote.

“We will speak her name: Amber Nicole Thurman,” Harris said in Atlanta as the crowd chanted along. “She had her future all planned out. … She had her plan, what she wanted to do for her son, for herself, for their future.”

Harris met with Thurman’s mother and sisters Thursday during an event with TV legend Oprah Winfrey. The vice president said on Friday that Thurman’s family described her as a loving sister and mother, as a hardworking young woman who was headed to nursing school. “Amber’s mother … told me that the word ‘preventable’ is [playing] over and over again in her head when she learned about how her child died,” Harris said.

The Democratic candidate blamed Donald Trump, her GOP rival in the 2024 White House race, for the deaths of Thurman and Candi Miller, the other woman whose death was reported by ProPublica. “This is a health care crisis, and Donald Trump is the architect of this crisis,” she said.

Trump has repeatedly bragged about his role in repealing federal abortion protections and continues to falsely claim that “everyone” wanted Roe v. Wade overturned. Harris told the crowd on Friday that Trump will go further and sign a national abortion ban into law if he’s elected — a policy stance that Trump himself has been indecisive on but many of his longtime allies have pushed for and detailed in Project 2025, a policy blueprint for the next Republican administration.

She also took aim at Trump’s repeated claim that he only supports abortion bans that include exceptions for rape, incest and the life and health of the pregnant person.

“We’re saying that we’re going to create public policy that says that a doctor, a health care provider, will only kick in to give the care that somebody needs if they’re about to die?” Harris said. “You’re saying that good policy, logical policy, moral policy, humane policy is about saying that a health care provider will only start providing that care when you’re about to die?”