Harris makes case for flipping Florida blue as six-week abortion ban goes into effect
Vice President Harris bashed former President Trump in Florida, a state the campaign is trying to flip to blue, on Wednesday as the state’s 6-week abortion ban went into effect.
“As of this morning, four million women in this state woke up with fewer reproductive freedoms than they had last night. This is the new reality under a Trump abortion ban,” Harris said during a campaign rally.
“Starting this morning, women in Florida became subject to an abortion ban so extreme it applies before many women even know they are pregnant. Which, by the way, tells us the extremists who wrote this ban either don’t know how a women’s body works or they simply don’t care,” she added.
The law went into effect after Florida’s state Supreme Court ruled in early April to allow a six-week abortion ban approved by the state Legislature. The Biden campaign has since announced it is making a play for Florida, which is Trump’s new home state.
While winning the state will be an uphill battle, Democrats are hopeful that the issue of abortion, which will be on the ballot in November thanks to the new state law, will give them a boost.
“Donald Trump may think he can take Florida for granted. It is your power that will send Joe Biden and me back to the White House,” Harris said. “Today I ask— Florida, are you ready to make your voices heard?”
Harris added a personal story into her remarks, sharing that a high school friend lived with her family after the friend told Harris her stepfather was molesting her.
“The idea that someone who survives a crime of violence to their body, a violation to their body, would not have the authority to make a decision about what happens to their body next, that’s immoral,” she said. “One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling her what to do.”
The Biden campaign released a video earlier on Wednesday, criticizing recent comments from Trump in a Time interview, during which he said it should be up to individual states whether to monitor women’s pregnancies and whether to prosecute women for having the procedure.
Harris brought up the Time interview statements in her remarks.
“So Florida, the contrast in this election could not be more clear. Basically, under Donald Trump, it would be fair game for women to be monitored and punished by the government. Whereas Joe Biden and I have a different view. We believe the government should never come between a women and her doctor” she said.
She also warned against a second Trump term, saying that Trump allies in Congress have called for a national abortion ban.
“Now, Trump wants us to believe he will not sign a national ban. Well, I say, enough with the gaslighting, enough with the gaslighting,” Harris said. “We all know that if Donald Trump gets the chance, he will sign a national abortion ban.”
She also accused Trump of gaslighting earlier this month in Arizona, during which she repeatedly knocked the former president just days after the state’s Supreme Court upheld an 1864 law that made performing abortion a felony.