Kamala Harris Rally: Georgia VP Wants to Link Deaths of Two Women to ‘Trump’s Abortion Ban’

Vice President Kamala Harris lashed out at former President Donald Trump and Republicans in a high-profile speech in Atlanta on Friday, calling them “hypocrites,” following a ProPublica report detailing the deaths of two women in Georgia that were a direct result of the state’s abortion ban after six weeks of pregnancy.

She argued that it was impossible to act in the best interests of women and children and at the same time enforce the abortion ban.

“One in three women in America lives in a state where Trump has banned abortion,” Harris said. “Think about that when you combine that with what we know has long been neglected in terms of things like maternal mortality. Think about that when you combine that with what has long been neglected in terms of women in communities that don’t have the resources they need for prenatal, prenatal and postnatal health care. Think about that.”

She continued: “And these hypocrites want to start talking about what’s in the best interest of women and children. Well, where have you been, where have you been when it comes to taking care of the women and children of America, where have you been? How dare they?”

She ridiculed the former president’s vacillating views on abortion, saying that if he had the chance, he would ban abortion nationwide.

“I believe in an exception to save the mother’s life,” Harris said, imitating Trump’s voice.

She cited the U.S. Senate’s election-season vote on legislation that would have provided federal coverage and insurance for in vitro fertilization treatments, which was blocked by Republicans after Trump called himself a “leader” on the issue.

“Oh, and on that last point, which you probably saw this week, for the second time, Republicans in the United States Senate have blocked legislation that would have protected access to IVF treatment. Now consider the irony of, on the one hand, these extremists want to tell women that they do not have the freedom to end an unwanted pregnancy, and on the other hand, these extremists are telling women and their partners that they do not have the freedom to start a family,” she said.

“Okay, they also want to restrict access to contraception. And now Donald Trump says he’ll personally cast his vote in Florida, where he now lives, to support their extreme abortion ban, like the one we have here in Georgia,” she added.

In Detroit on Thursday, Harris was able to meet with the family of Amber Thurman, one of the women ProPublica profiled in its report, while attending an event live with Oprah Winfrey. Her mother, Shanette Thurman, told Harris she couldn’t stop thinking about the word “preventable.”

“Amber’s mother, Shanette, told me that the word ‘preventable’ kept repeating in her head. When she found out how her baby died, the world could have been prevented,” Harris said Friday. “She can’t, can’t stop thinking about the word they said to her. It could have been prevented. And through the pain and the grief of her mother, who bravely told her story, I promised her, as she asked, that we would make sure Amber wasn’t just remembered as a statistic.”

Harris asked the audience to repeat her name, Amber Thurman.

“We now know that at least two women, and these are just the stories that we know here in the state of Georgia, have died, have died because of Trump’s abortion ban,” Harris said. “And we will say her name: Amber Nicole Thurman. The audience repeated her name three times.

She once again called Trump the “architect” of the abortion ban.

“This is a health care crisis, and Donald Trump is the architect of it. He brags about overturning Roe v. Wade, saying, quote, ‘I did it, and I’m proud I did it.’ He’s proud, proud that women have had enough.”

Reproductive rights have been a key theme of Harris’ campaign. Her team launched a “reproductive freedom” bus tour in early September, with their first stop being Palm Beach County, former President Donald Trump’s backyard.

During this month’s presidential debate, Trump noted that he had returned regulation of abortion care to state governments, saying the decision should be up to states. He did not commit during the debate to vetoing a potential federal abortion ban if it came to his desk as president. Instead, he said that would not happen.

Thurman died two weeks after Georgia’s ban took effect in 2022, after waiting 20 hours at a suburban Atlanta hospital for an incomplete abortion, according to a report by ProPublica. Miller died after refusing medical care for complications from abortion drugs, the report said.

Georgia is a key swing state that Biden won narrowly in 2020, beating former Trump by about 12,000 votes. Recognizing that she couldn’t rely solely on voters in the Atlanta metro area to keep the state blue, Harris visited rural counties in southeast Georgia during a two-day tour that ended with a rally in Savannah.

Harris is currently neck and neck with Trump in polls in the state, according to an average of 538. Trump leads Georgia by one point, with 48 percent compared to Harris’ 47 percent.