All through Joe Biden’s presidency, he leaned on the outspoken former prosecutor and senator he chosen as his vice chairman, Kamala Harris, to be the White Home’s voice of unflinching assist for reproductive well being rights.
Now, as Democrats rebuild their presidential ticket just some months earlier than Election Day, Harris would extensively be anticipated to take an aggressive stance in assist of abortion entry if she grew to become the celebration’s new presumptive nominee — hitting former President Donald Trump on a problem that would undermine his possibilities of victory. Biden endorsed Harris on Sunday when he introduced his determination to depart the race.
Whereas Biden sought to maintain abortion heart stage in his reelection bid, abortion advocates had harbored doubts that the president — a training Catholic who has mentioned he’s not “massive on abortion” — could possibly be an efficient standard-bearer as Republican efforts erode entry to abortion and different ladies’s well being care across the nation.
Harris, alternatively, grew to become the primary vice chairman to go to a clinic run by the Deliberate Parenthood Federation of America. She undertook a nationwide tour targeted on reproductive rights. And when Sen. JD Vance of Ohio was named Trump’s operating mate, Harris used her subsequent marketing campaign look to criticize him for blocking protections for in vitro fertilization.
“Most importantly, Harris can be the face of the drive to guard abortion rights,” Larry Levitt, govt vice chairman for well being coverage at KFF, a well being data nonprofit that features KFF Well being Information, mentioned in an interview earlier than Biden stepped apart. “Abortion entry would doubtless be entrance and heart in her marketing campaign.”
A powerful stance on abortion is just not the one main distinction to the GOP that Harris presents: She is properly versed in well being coverage. As a toddler, Harris usually accompanied her mom to work on the weekends, visiting the lab the place she was learning breast most cancers.
Whereas operating for president in 2019, she backed “Medicare for All,” a single-payer insurance coverage proposal that established her bona fides as a extra progressive voice on well being coverage. And as California’s lawyer basic, she fought towards consolidation within the well being trade over issues it could drive up costs.
She stumped for a Biden administration rule setting minimal staffing ranges at federally funded nursing houses in April.
“She deserves credit score, she’s talked about them on the marketing campaign path. I don’t see any change there within the priorities on what Democrats need to do on well being care if she turns into the nominee,” mentioned Debbie Curtis, vice chairman at McDermott + Consulting.
An intensified give attention to ladies’s well being and abortion may assist impress Democratic voters within the closing dash to the election. Because the three Supreme Courtroom justices named by Trump helped overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022, public opinion has turned towards Republicans on abortion, even contributing to an unexpectedly poor displaying within the 2022 midterm elections.
Thirty-two % of voters mentioned they’d vote just for a candidate for a serious workplace who shares their views on abortion, in accordance with a Gallup Ballot carried out in Might. That’s a document excessive since Gallup first requested the query in 1992. Almost twice as many citizens who assist abortion, in contrast with those that oppose abortion, maintain that view.
Sixty-three % of adults mentioned abortion needs to be authorized in all or most instances, based mostly on a ballot carried out in April by Pew Analysis Middle. Thirty-six % mentioned it needs to be unlawful in all or most instances.
Republicans, in flip, have been desperate to distance themselves from their very own victory on the problem. Trump angered some members of his base by saying he would depart selections on abortion to the states.
Regardless, advocates warning that the GOP’s new moderation-by-omission on the problem masks their precise, extra excessive stance. Vance has been clear up to now about his assist for a nationwide abortion ban. And whereas the GOP platform adopted throughout the celebration’s conference final week could not explicitly name for a nationwide ban on abortion, celebration leaders’ recognition of “fetal personhood,” the concept as quickly as an egg is fertilized it turns into an individual with full authorized rights, would create such a ban mechanically if the Supreme Courtroom discovered it constitutional.
These views stand in distinction to these of many Republicans, particularly ladies. About half of Republican ladies voters assume abortion needs to be authorized in all or most instances, in accordance with a current nationwide survey by KFF. And majorities of ladies who vote Republican imagine abortion needs to be authorized in instances of rape, incest, or a being pregnant emergency.
If Harris heads the ticket, she can be anticipated to hammer on these points within the coming months.
“It’s been one among if not the principle problem she’s emphasised within the final yr or two,” mentioned Matthew Baum, Marvin Kalb professor of world communications at Harvard College. “Clearly the Republicans try to defang the problem. It’s been a catastrophe for them.”
It’s doubtless, although, that Republicans would paint Harris’ views on abortion as extremist. In the course of the presidential debate towards Biden, Trump falsely claimed Democrats assist abortions late in being pregnant, “even after delivery.”
Shortly after information broke that Biden had endorsed Harris, Susan B. Anthony Professional-Life America issued an announcement calling out Harris’ document and providing proof of what’s to come back. “Whereas Joe Biden has bother saying the phrase abortion, Kamala Harris shouts it,” mentioned Marjorie Dannenfelser, the group’s president.
Some pollsters have mentioned Harris must do extra than simply marketing campaign towards Republican efforts to roll again abortion entry to really inspire voters as a result of so many points, equivalent to inflation, the economic system, and immigration, are competing for consideration.
“She has to say she is operating for a federal legislation that may deliver again Roe v. Wade,” mentioned Robert Blendon, an emeritus public well being professor at Harvard College. “She wants one thing very particular and clear.”
Harris’ elevation to the highest of the ticket would come at a crucial juncture within the battle over reproductive rights.
The Supreme Courtroom heard two abortion instances within the time period that ended this month. However the justices didn’t handle the deserves of the problems in both case, ruling as a substitute on technicalities. Each are anticipated to return to the excessive court docket as quickly as subsequent yr.
In a single case, difficult the FDA’s 2000 approval of the abortion capsule mifepristone, the justices dominated that the group of anti-abortion medical professionals who challenged the drug lacked standing to sue as a result of they failed to point out they have been personally injured by its availability.
However the Supreme Courtroom returned the case to the district court docket in Texas the place it was filed, and the GOP attorneys basic of three states — Idaho, Kansas, and Missouri — have joined the case as plaintiffs. Whether or not the courts settle for the states as viable challengers stays to be seen, but when they do, the justices may quickly be requested once more to find out the destiny of the abortion capsule.
The different abortion-related case pitted a federal legislation requiring hospitals to offer emergency care towards Idaho’s strict ban, which permits abortions when a pregnant affected person’s life is in peril — however not in instances wherein it’s obligatory to guard her well being, together with future fertility.
In that case, the justices apparently failed to succeed in any majority settlement, declaring as a substitute that they have been untimely in accepting the case and sending it again to the decrease court docket for additional consideration. That case, too, may return in comparatively quick order.
Harris would even have substantial leeway to speak about what are thought-about to be the Biden administration’s core well being coverage accomplishments. These embrace enhanced Reasonably priced Care Act tax credit aimed toward serving to shoppers get medical health insurance protection, which have been prolonged by means of the Inflation Discount Act into 2025, the $35 month-to-month cap on copays some sufferers pay for insulin, and drug worth negotiation in Medicare.
“I feel she is properly positioned. She is core to the administration and can have the ability to take credit score for these issues,” mentioned Dan Mendelson, CEO of Morgan Well being, a subsidiary of J.P. Morgan Chase.
That mentioned, it could be exhausting for any candidate to get voters to give attention to a few of these accomplishments, particularly drug worth efforts.
Whereas the administration has taken some vital steps, “new costly medicine hold popping out,” Mendelson mentioned. “So in the event you have a look at the notion of shoppers, they don’t imagine the price of medicine goes down.”
Joseph Antos, of the American Enterprise Institute, mentioned Harris would doubtless say the Biden-Harris administration “is already saving folks cash” on insulin. However she should transcend these accomplishments and double down on drug pricing and different value points — not discuss solely about reproductive rights.
“She’s bought to pay attention, if she desires to win, on points which have a broad enchantment,” Antos mentioned. “Value is one and entry to remedies is one other massive problem.”
Samantha Younger of KFF Well being Information contributed to this report.
KFF Well being Information is a nationwide newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about well being points and is likely one of the core working applications at KFF—an impartial supply of well being coverage analysis, polling, and journalism. Be taught extra about KFF.
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