Harris’ clinic visit breaks political barrier
ST. PAUL, Minn. – These are not words politicians use. But Vice President Kamala Harris, already a historic figure, went there when she broke a political barrier by touring a Minnesotabased Planned Parenthood clinic.
“Everyone get ready for the language,” Harris, the nation’s first female vice president warned. “Uterus.”
The crowd broke into laughter. “That part of the body needs a lot of medical care from time to time,” Harris said.
“Issues like fibroids” − muscular tumors that grow in the wall of a woman’s uterus − must no longer be taboo. “We can handle this,” she said.
Decades ago, it might have made them squirm or denounce it as vulgar.
The 59-year-old Democrat stood in front of a bank of microphones and went into detail about the many services Planned Parenthood provides that are unrelated to abortion. Harris’ decision to visit the clinic – and her public use of medical terms for the human reproductive system – were the clearest sign yet of how much America’s abortion debate has been scrambled ahead of the 2024 election.
The decision by the most powerful woman in elected office in the U.S. was a remarkable departure for Democrats, who have historically kept abortion providers at arm’s length.
And the public seems ready for it. For Paige Robinson, a 22-year-old University of Minnesota student, abortion is a key issue she’ll be considering when she votes this fall.
Harris’ visit, she told USA TODAY, “does show a very clear stance from the administration on their support of it, which is a strong thing to do.”
Experts and activists said Thursday’s trip further reflects how the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade threw out the old rules around abortion.
“It’s both unprecedented and unsurprising given the earthquake of the Dobbs decision,” said Matthew Dallek, a political historian at George Washington University.
Others say this moment also showcases Harris’ expanding role as the Biden campaign’s progressive crusaderin-chief on social issues.
On the trail, she has been urgent about women’s health being in crisis as part of her “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” tour, which concluded in Minnesota last week after previous stops in battleground states such as Wisconsin, Georgia, Michigan and Arizona.
An exclusive USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll released this week underscores one reason why Harris is running toward the abortion issue.
The vice president is already wellliked among fellow Democrats, particularly Democratic women who give her a 78% job approval rating, the survey shows. Her popularity dives, however, when she’s outside the party’s tent.
Roughly 54% of all respondents, for instance, said she isn’t qualified to serve as president versus 38% who believe she has what it takes.
The vice president didn’t mince words when drawing out the choice voters have this fall, saying Americans should “all recognize who is to blame” for the patchwork of laws.
“The former president, Donald Trump, hand-picked three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention that they would overturn Roe,” she said. “He intended for them to take away your freedoms. And it is a decision he brags about.”
Mini Timmaraju, president of Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly known as NARAL Pro-Choice America), said going to a clinic distinguished Harris as someone who could talk to an experience all women share.
“This has become the most reproductive freedom-forward administration in the history of the country, and much respect and affection for Joe Biden, but that wouldn’t be happening without Kamala Harris being the tip of the spear,” she said.
Polling has consistently shown Americans broadly support some level of access to abortion rights.