Harris, in Georgia, seeks to tie deaths of two women to 'Trump abortion ban'
Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday slammed former President Donald Trump and Republicans for being "hypocrites" in a high-profile speech in Atlanta, following a ProPublica report that detailed the deaths of two Georgia women it said were a direct result of the state's six-week abortion ban.
She argued that it's impossible to do what's in the best interest for women and children and also enforce abortion bans.
"One in three women in America lives in a state with a Trump abortion ban," Harris said. "Think about that when you also combine that with what we know has been long standing neglect around an issue like maternal mortality. Think about that when you compound that with what has been longstanding neglect of women in communities with a lack of the adequate resources they need for health care prenatal, during their pregnancy, postpartum. 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 ya been, where ya been when it comes to taking care of the women and children of America, where ya been? How dare they?"
She mocked the former president's flip-flopping record regarding abortion -- claiming that, if given the chance, he would ban abortion nationwide.
"I do believe in the exception to save the mother's life," Harris said while imitating Trump's voice.
She brought up the election-season U.S. Senate vote to advance legislation that would guarantee federal protections and insurance coverage for in vitro fertilization treatments that was blocked by Republicans after Trump called himself a "leader" on the issue.
"Oh, and on that last point you probably saw this week, for the second time, Republicans in the United States Senate blocked a bill that would protect access to IVF treatment. Now consider among the multitude of ironies, the fact that, on the one hand, these extremists want to tell women they don't have the freedom to end an unwanted pregnancy, and on the other hand, these extremists are telling women and their partners they don't have the freedom to start a family," she said.
"Okay, and they want to restrict access to contraception as well. And now Donald Trump says that he would personally cast his vote in Florida, which is where he now lives, to support their extreme abortion ban, just like the one that is 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 featured in its report, while participating in a livestream event with Oprah Winfrey. Her mother, Shanette Thurman, told Harris that she could not stop thinking about the word "preventable."
"Amber's mother, Shanette, told me that the word preventable is over and over again in her head. When she learned about how her child died, the world preventable," Harris said Friday. "She cannot, she can't stop thinking about the word that they spoke to her. It was preventable. And through the pain and the grief of her mother, who courageously told her story, I promised her, as she has asked, that we will make sure Amber is not just remembered as a statistic."
Harris had the audience say Amber Thurman's name back to her.
"Now we know that at least two women, and those are only the stories we know here in the state of Georgia, died, died because of a Trump abortion ban," said Harris. "And we will speak her name: Amber Nicole Thurman. The audience repeated her name three times.
She once again labeled Trump as the "architect" of abortion bans.
"This is a health care crisis, and Donald Trump is the architect. He brags about overturning Roe v. Wade in his own words, quote, 'I did it, and I'm proud to have done it.' He is proud, proud that women are done."
Reproductive rights have been one of the driving issues of the Harris' campaign. Her team launched a "reproductive freedom" bus tour in early September with their first stop in Palm Beach County, former President Donald Trump's backyard.
During this month's presidential debate, Trump noted that he had returned the regulation of abortion care to state governments, saying it should be up to the states to decide. He would not commit during the debate to vetoing a potential federal abortion ban if it came to his desk as president. Instead, he said that situation would not arise.
Thurman died two weeks after the Georgia ban was passed in 2022, after waiting 20 hours in a suburban Atlanta hospital for an incomplete abortion, according to the ProPublica report. Miller died after declining to seek medical care for complications from abortion medication, the report said.
Georgia is a key battleground state that Biden narrowly won in 2020, beating former Trump by about 12,000 votes. Recognizing that she could not only rely on voters in the metro-Atlanta area to keep the state blue, Harris visited rural counties in southeastern Georgia during a two-day swing that culminated in a rally in Savannah.
Currently, Harris is neck-and-neck with Trump in the polls in the state, according to 538's average. Trump leads by a one-point margin in Georgia, with 48% compared to Harris' 47%.
