Vice President Kamala Harris, in a speech to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, got real and explained what it means for working mothers to live in a state where President Trump’s abortion ban has been enacted.
Harris said:
You may have heard the story. A lot of people have heard the story about horrible things that have happened. Here’s a recent story that happened in Georgia. Trump Abortion laws that don’t include exceptions for rape or incest. Immoral. Immoral. And today, 40 percent of Latina women in America live in states where President Trump’s abortion laws are in effect.
What if she was a working woman? Understand that the majority of women who seek abortion care are mothers. Understand what that means to her. So, she has to travel to another state. I wish she had the extra money to pay for the plane ticket. She has to think about what to do with her children.
If she has access to affordable child care, God help her. Imagine what that would mean. She would have to leave her home, go to the airport, stand in line at TSA. Think about it. You are all policy leaders here. I always tell my team, especially the young people that I mentor, that with any public policy, you have to ask yourself, how does this impact real people?
Ask how that affects a real human being. Find out the details. She has to stand in a TSA line. She has to get on a plane and sit next to a stranger. She has to go to a city she’s never been to. And that’s it. To get a medical procedure. She has to go back to the airport immediately. Because she has to get back to her kids.
And it’s not like her best friend can go with her, because she’s probably looking after the kids. All because they decided they were in a better position to judge her interests than she was. This is just wrong. And I think we all know that we don’t have to abandon our faith or deeply held beliefs to agree that the government shouldn’t tell her what to do.
If she wants,
If she wants, she will talk to her priests, pastors, rabbis and imams, but she will not let the government tell her what to do. And I pledge to you that if CHC helps pass legislation to restore reproductive freedom as President of the United States, I will be proud to sign that legislation.
video:
Kamala Harris walks us through the steps that working-class mothers must jump through to access reproductive health care in states where President Trump’s abortion bans have been enacted. pic.twitter.com/KwJAFbUbWy
—Sarah Rees-Jones (@PoliticusSarah) September 18, 2024
To Donald Trump and most men, reproductive health is an abstract policy issue, but in reality it’s not. Cutting off access to reproductive health care in states would impose a series of obstacles, but Vice President Harris explained that it’s more than just leaving the decision up to the states.
Many women cannot afford the time or expense of traveling to another state to receive reproductive health care, and, importantly, it is wrong that women should have to do so.
Right now, women are dying unnecessarily in America, and that’s wrong.
The state does not get to decide whether someone lives or dies, and it should have no say in what women choose to do with their bodies.
That’s wrong, and we must vote to stop it.
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