Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has launched a “Reproductive Freedom Bus Tour” with a mission to emphasize abortion as a critical issue in the upcoming elections. The 50-stop tour began on Tuesday in West Palm Beach, Florida, close to former President Donald Trump’s residence in order to highlight the perceived difference between the two presidential candidates on the issue.
Contrasting With Trump
According to The Palm Beach Post, the choice to start the tour in Florida, near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, is a deliberate effort to “magnify the differences” between the two campaigns. Trump’s stance on abortion has been inconsistent, and is now being used to galvanize Democratic support among suburban women.
Last week, Trump came out in opposition to Florida’s Amendment 4, also known as the “Right to Abortion Initiative,” a proposed constitutional amendment that would enshrine a legal right to abortion in the state, preventing the government from imposing significant restrictions on access to abortion “services.”
At the same time, just a day before, Trump could not give a conclusive answer on his stance on the measure, yet criticized Florida’s six-week abortion ban, which will be the subject of a referendum in November, as “too short.” Earlier in March, when campaigning against Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis, Trump called the six-week restriction “too harsh.”
While Trump is evidently “all over the place” on abortion, as put by The Hill report, and has strongly signaled that his administration would be “great for women and their reproductive rights,” the Democrats paint him as a radical anti-abortion activist that would outlaw all abortions, if given a chance.
“For the next few months, we will be traveling across the country, going community to community, to make sure every voter understands what’s on the line for our reproductive rights in this election,” said Harris-Walz campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez to The Post.
Harris’ team is also responding to recent developments, such as Trump’s proposed policy on allowing controversial in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments to be covered by either the government or insurance companies. The Harris-Walz campaign has blasted this move, calling it an attempt to win over suburban women voters while reminding them of Trump’s and Republicans’ role in enabling states to restrict abortion and IVF “rights.”
The Tour
The first event of the tour featured such pro-abortion figures as Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), media personality Ana Navarro, and “reproductive rights storyteller” Anya Cook.
Cook, in her speech, described a gut-wrenching near-death experience that she blamed squarely on Trump. In 2022, Cook, a resident of Florida, was denied an abortion of her 16-week baby that was given no chances of survival, and had a traumatic miscarriage. “Doctors told my husband that I could die in an operation room, and the best chance to save my life was to remove my uterus. All because of Donald Trump,” she said.
Cook went on to lambast Trump for bragging about his role in overturning Roe v. Wade and “unleashing abortion bans” in the states, one of which has “nearly taken” her life.
“Americans have shown us time and time again that they will not tolerate a country where our daughters have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers, and they believe that women have the right to make their own health care decisions and not politicians,” said Klobuchar, omitting to mention the right to life of the unborn girls.
“This November, reproductive freedom is on the ballot,” she posted on her X.
Klobuchar believes that abortion makes Florida competitive this election cycle, pointing to the hot Mucarsel-Powell race to replace Republican Senator Rick Scott.
“I think you’re going to see Florida in play, and an amendment for [reproductive rights] puts it on the map in a big way,” she told CNN, as quoted by The Hill. It remains to be seen if abortion outweighs major issues such as economy and immigration for the Floridians in November.
Harris’ Stance on Abortion
Kamala Harris has a longstanding record of supporting abortion. As Attorney General of California, she fought against anti-abortion measures and supported access to the said procedure. During her tenure as a U.S. Senator, Harris co-sponsored the Women’s Health Protection Act, which aimed to codify Roe v. Wade and prevent states from enacting restrictive abortion laws. She supported numerous other pro-abortion measures, as detailed by The Desert report.
As a senator, she vehemently opposed the confirmation of Supreme Court justices who were perceived as threats to abortion “rights.”
As vice president, Harris has continued to advocate for abortion access, speaking out against the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. She has emphasized the importance of protecting “reproductive rights” at the federal level and has worked to mobilize public support for policies that ensure women have the right to make their own healthcare decisions.
In March, Harris made history by becoming the first sitting U.S. vice president to visit an abortion provider when she toured a Planned Parenthood clinic in Minnesota.
The Road Ahead
The Harris-Walz bus tour will continue through key battleground states, including Arizona, Nevada, Florida, and Georgia, with more stops planned throughout the fall. With several states voting on abortion-related ballot initiatives in November, the tour aims to energize voters and drive turnout.
According to a recent New York Times/Siena Poll, abortion appears to be an important issue for “a growing share” of registered voters in swing states, with 14 percent considering it the most important factor in deciding their vote, according to The New York Times. “For women younger than 45, abortion has overtaken the economy as the single most important issue to their vote,” wrote the outlet.
The Harris-Walz campaign is betting that a strong focus on abortion will resonate with younger women and draw a clear line between their platform and that of Donald Trump and JD Vance, who advocate for letting states decide on the matter.
