Kamala Harris to visit Arizona on abortions rights tour after near-total ban upheld

Doug Cunningham
·2 min read
52
UPI
Vice President Kamala Harris will be in Tucson Friday supporting reproductive freedom for women, days after the Arizona Supreme Court re-imposed an 1860s abortion ban. Her campaign said she will blame Donald Trump for making the abortion ban possible. File photo by Ron Sachs/UPI
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April 12 (UPI) -- Vice President Kamala Harris will visit Arizona Friday as part of a multi-state tour to support abortion rights days after the state's Supreme Court upheld an 1864 law cementing a near-total abortion ban.

Ahead of the visit, Harris' campaign said she will characterize former President Donald Trump, who appointed three conservative Justices to the Supreme Court before it ruled in 2022 to overturn Roe vs. Wade, as the "architect of this health care crisis" and warn of additional threats to reproductive rights if he is re-elected in 2024.

"Here's what a second Trump term looks like: More bans, more suffering, less freedom, but we are not going to let that happen," she is set to say, according to preppared remarks.

Harris said earlier this week that Trump is proud of taking away women's reproductive freedom.

"He's proudly responsible for overturning Roe vs. Wade," Harris said. "And one has to ask, proudly responsible that one in three women of reproductive age now live in a state with an abortion ban? Proudly responsible that doctors and nurses can now be jailed in some states for life, for providing care? Proudly responsible that states have passed bans with no exception, even for rape or incest?"

Harris arrives in Tucson after the Arizona Supreme Court Tuesday upheld an 1864 law from before Arizona was a state that makes an abortion a felony, except to save the life of the mother. Women did not have the right to vote in 1864, when that law was adopted.

The 1864 law was later codified in 1901 and again after Arizona became a state in 1913.

The decision prompted a change in tone from Republicans, with Trump on Wednesday saying "Yeah, they did" in response to a reporter who asked if the court went "too far."

U.S. Senate hopeful Kari Lake, who had called the law "great" on Wednesday said it was "out of step with Arizonans."

Harris' Arizona trip highlighting abortion rights was planned before the state's supreme court imposed the 1864 abortion ban. It was scheduled as part of the vice president's campaign tour called "Fight For Reproductive Freedom."