VP Kamala Harris Visits Minnesota Abortion Clinic

Facts

• US Vice Pres. Kamala Harris toured a Minnesota abortion clinic on Thursday, marking the first time a president or vice president has made an official visit to such a facility.¹
• Her visit to the Planned Parenthood St. Paul Health Center comes amid her “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” tour, which highlights abortion rights as a key issue for her and Joe Biden’s reelection campaign against Donald Trump.²
• Harris said that she met with roughly two dozen healthcare workers at the clinic and that she wanted to meet with people directly impacted by abortion laws. She has already made five stops on her pro-choice tour and has been an outspoken critic of the 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.³
• Harris’ tour included Wisconsin, California, Georgia, Michigan, and Arizona. During her sixth and final stop, she claimed that lack of access to abortion is a “very serious health crisis,” blaming Trump for Roe’s reversal, citing his three Supreme Court nominees who struck down the 50-year-old decision.⁴
• While Biden has been more tepid in his support for abortion, Harris has been outspoken on the topic, which is the top issue for one in eight voters, according to a recent KFF poll.⁵
• The controversial topic has also stirred pushback from religious groups that advocate for alternatives to abortion, but Harris claimed that Americans don’t need to “abandon their faith” to support abortion. Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood’s chief medical officer says the clinic has seen a 25% increase in abortions since Roe was overturned.⁶

Sources: ¹Associated Press, ²CNN, ³NBC, ⁴USA Today, ⁵Guardian and ⁶FOX News.

Narratives

• Democratic narrative, as provided by MSNBC. As the first woman to serve as vice president, Kamala Harris understands the key issues that impact women, and she continues to demonstrate her unwavering support for reproductive justice. The vast majority of Americans are in favor of access to abortion in some form, yet radical Republicans have pushed for extreme measures against it. Abortion rights are human rights, and if the 2022 midterms serve as an indicator, Republicans will be punished at the ballot box for their anti-choice extremism.
• Republican narrative, as provided by PJ Media. Kamala Harris is pulling out every fear mongering tactic to exploit the emotions of women across the US in what is nothing but a political stunt aimed at energizing the Democrats' far-left base. Partnering with what is essentially an abortion mill that has been mired in past controversy, however, is a far cry from the moderate stance on abortion put forth by Biden in 2020, and could end up backfiring against the Democratic factions less enthusiastic about abortion rights, particularly Black and Hispanic groups.

Predictions