Harris: Republicans weaponising abortion issue
AMERICAN vice-president Kamala Harris (inset) has said the potential Supreme Court decision overturning Roe versus Wade represents an attack on women and lashed out at Republicans for “weaponising” the issue.
Her remarks offered a first glimpse of how the White House might use the battle for abortion rights to energise voters in the upcoming midterm elections. “Some Republican leaders are trying to weaponise the use of the law against women. How dare they? How dare they tell a woman what she can and cannot do with her own body? How dare they try to stop her from determining her own future? How dare they try to deny women their rights and their freedoms?” Harris said.
“If the court overturns Roe versus Wade, it will be a direct assault on freedom,” Harris told attendees at a gala hosted by Emily’s List, an organisation which works to get abortion-rights Democrats elected to office.
The event comes after a leaked draft Supreme Court decision showed that the court’s conservative majority is prepared to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe versus Wade decision guaranteeing a women’s right to an abortion. The court confirmed the authenticity of the leaked document.
Harris’ speech was planned before the leak of the ruling, but has taken on added meaning. Republicans are expected to take control of the House of Representatives and perhaps the Senate after the midterm elections in November, but Democrats are now seeking to use the abortion issue to energise voters. Democrats now hold a narrow majority in both chambers.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans said they are more likely to back candidates who support the right to abortion in the November midterm elections, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted last Tuesday (3).