Presidential Preview: Abortion

Democratic nominee Kamala Harris has long been a strong advocate for women’s reproductive rights and the constitutional right to an abortion. 

The day after announcing her candidacy, Harris reaffirmed her stance as a pro-choice candidate in a July 22 speech in Delaware to her campaign staff. She promised to oppose a national abortion ban and instead sign a federal law enshrining reproductive freedoms, should she be elected in November.

“It is this team here that is going to help this November to elect a majority of members of the United States Congress who agree [that] the government should not be telling a woman what to do with her body,” Harris said.

Harris’ outspoken support for reproductive rights extends well before Dobbs.

As California’s attorney general, Harris was not faced with much opposition in the fight for reproductive justice, as California has long been considered one of the most progressive states in the union in terms of abortion access.

Nevertheless, Harris signed several amicus briefs in support of abortion rights during her term. Notably, she joined 14 other attorneys general in signing a 2016 amicus brief that advocated for the overturning of a 2013 Texas law, which Harris and her co-signers found placed an “undue burden” on women seeking abortions in the state and did not advance the state’s interest in protecting women’s health. The Supreme Court ruled 5-3 in concurrence with the amicus brief.

In 2017, Harris cosponsored the Women's Health Protection Act of 2017 during her time as a California senator. The legislation banned state-level restrictions on abortion access, such as specific medical test requirements and prohibitions on abortions when a woman’s health is at risk.

Then-Sen. Harris also famously grilled Justice Brett Kavanaugh on abortion in his 2019 confirmation hearing for a position on the Supreme Court, to which he was nominated by then-President Donald Trump.

“Can you think of any laws that give [the] government the power to make decisions about the male body?” Harris asked. 

Kavanaugh hesitated for several seconds, prompting Harris to rephrase and restate her question multiple times before he eventually responded that he was “not thinking of any right now.” Kavanaugh later joined the 6-3 majority to overturn Roe.

During her 2020 presidential campaign, Harris called for a “preclearance requirement,” which would require states and localities with a history of unconstitutionally restricting abortion access to clear their abortion laws with the Justice Department before they fully took effect.

“We cannot tolerate a perspective that is about going backward and not understanding women have agency, women have value, women have authority to make decisions about their own lives and their own bodies,” Harris said in a May 2019 MSNBC appearance.

As vice president, Harris became the White House’s most powerful abortion access advocate, championing women’s reproductive rights with a fervor that President Joe Biden’s rocky history on the issue prevented him from emulating.

In the aftermath of Dobbs, Harris held strategy meetings with state-level Democrats in areas facing abortion restrictions and frequently promoted the administration’s pro-choice agenda at public events. She also embarked on a “reproductive freedoms tour” in January, which was designed to “bring together thousands of people to fight for the freedom of every American to make decisions about their own body” and began on the 51st anniversary of Roe.

Harris reportedly became the first president or vice president to visit in abortion clinic in March after an appearance in her now-running mate Gov. Tim Walz’s home state of Minnesota.

As part of Biden’s reelection campaign, Harris’ views were represented by several campaign advertisements that put abortion at the forefront of messaging, attempting to leverage the issue as a “potent political weapon” against Trump.

One notable ad, released June 23, featured testimonial from ​​Kaitlyn Joshua, a Louisiana woman who was turned away from two emergency rooms during her miscarriage at 11 weeks of pregnancy. Joshua described her experience as “a direct result of Donald Trump overturning Roe v. Wade.”

Longtime reproductive rights advocates have recognized Harris’ focus on the issue during her vice presidency and expect her to make expanding abortion access a cornerstone of her candidacy and potential presidency.

“There is no question that having her at the top of the ticket helps really elevate this issue,” said Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster who worked on Biden’s 2020 and 2024 campaign teams.