Kamala Harris Will Be The First Vice President To Visit An Abortion Clinic

Vice President Kamala Harris waves to supporters at the start of a campaign rally in Denver, Colorado, on March 12, 2024.
Vice President Kamala Harris waves to supporters at first of a marketing campaign rally in Denver, Colorado, on March 12, 2024.
JASON CONNOLLY by way of Getty Images

Vice President Kamala Harris will go to a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Minnesota on Thursday.

Harris plans to tour a clinic within the Twin Cities space and communicate to physicians about how they’ve been impacted by abortion bans exterior of the state, a White House official instructed HuffPost. The cease, first reported by NBC News, is a part of the vp’s Fight for Reproductive Freedoms tour, and he or she will likely be joined by Gov. Tim Walz (D) and Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.).

Minnesota has turn out to be an abortion protected haven within the Midwest for the reason that U.S. Supreme Court repealed Roe v. Wade in 2022. North Dakota and South Dakota enacted near-total abortion bans proper after the excessive courtroom resolution, and Nebraska has a 12-week ban on the books. After the state noticed an uptick in out-of-state sufferers, Walz signed a “refuge” regulation that shielded individuals touring to Minnesota for abortions from authorized penalties of their dwelling states.

The clinic gives abortion care, in addition to contraception and different reproductive well being providers. The identify and placement of the clinic haven’t been launched but. Planned Parenthood didn’t instantly reply to HuffPost’s request for remark.

The vp might communicate with sufferers, however she doesn’t need to disrupt any appointments whereas she’s there, NBC News reported. A White House official stated Harris will spotlight the work of pro-choice advocates and lawmakers in Minnesota and focus on how the Biden-Harris administration plans to guard reproductive freedom within the coming months.

Harris’ journey is believed to be the primary to an abortion clinic for any president or vp. This is the vp’s third go to to Minnesota since she took workplace.

Harris has been the extra outspoken advocate for abortion rights out of the Biden-Harris administration. Pro-choice advocates have been annoyed with President Joe Biden for his reticence to completely assist abortion rights in a post-Roe world, together with his seeming reluctance to say the phrase itself. In a latest interview with The New Yorker, Biden stated he’s “never been supportive of, you know, ‘It’s my body, I can do what I want with it.’”

The Biden-Harris administration has made restoring federal abortion protections a pillar of their reelection marketing campaign. Biden kicked off his reelection marketing campaign earlier this 12 months with a “Restore Roe” rally in Virginia, the place he condemned the Supreme Court resolution that repealed Roe and the intense abortion bans Republicans have enacted in over a dozen states since.