Kamala Harris keeps beating the reproductive freedom drum
The veep will take her abortion-rights message back on the trail this week, this time with a top celebrity companion and in a battleground state key to the Biden campaign’s path to reelection.
First Things First
The clearest path to re-election for President Joe Biden is to defend the so-called blue wall of Midwestern states he wrestled away from his predecessor Donald Trump in 2020.
Bidenworld plans to reassemble the coalition that sent the president to the White House by relentlessly defending reproductive freedom amid statewide abortion bans and a presumptive Republican nominee in Donald Trump, who said as recently as last week that he would allow red states to monitor women’s pregnancies—and prosecute those who violate anti-abortion laws.
The latest step of this strategy will come tomorrow when the Biden campaign dispatches Vice President Kamala Harris—its most effective messenger on reproductive freedom—to Pennsylvania, one of those key blue-wall states, to speak about the issue in the southeast region of the state.
“With the ever-present threat of a national abortion ban that could roll back the progress made since the Dobbs decision, voters in the Commonwealth and across the country must again show up to elect leaders that represent the freedoms they envision for themselves,” Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said in a statement to Once Upon a Hill.
Harris will be joined by actress and singer Sheryl Lee Ralph for a conversation on the stakes of the election for reproductive rights where she is expected to make the case that former President Trump is to blame for the health care crisis ignited in 2022 by the repeal of Roe v. Wade in a Supreme Court decision that protected the national right to abortion care.
“It was a very bad issue from a legal standpoint,” Trump said in an interview with Timelast week. “People were amazed it lasted as long as it did.”
Lauren Hitt, a spokesperson for the Biden campaign, said in a statement on Sunday that Trump is trying to gaslight his way through the election.
“But his record is crystal clear: Whenever Trump’s had power, he’s used it to strip women of their fundamental rights,” Hitt added. “Ever since Trump overturned Roe, voters have consistently rejected the MAGA agenda to take away reproductive freedom. This November, they’ll do it again.”
Abortion-rights advocates point to the grassroots response to explain why they’re so bullish Biden and Harris can win four more years despite concerns about the president’s age and issues like the economy, immigration and the war in Gaza.
“In every election since the overturn of Roe v. Wade, Pennsylvanians have made their support for protecting reproductive freedom known,” McGill Johnson said. “They resoundingly showed up to put reproductive rights champions in the governor’s seat, state legislature, the US Senate and on the state’s Supreme Court bench. Continuing that momentum will be critical heading into the November election, where voters will again have the opportunity to fight back against the tide of attacks on freedom.”
The Pennsylvania trip—her 13th since taking office and third visit this year—comes after she appeared in Jacksonville, Florida last week on the day that the state’s new six-week abortion ban went into effect. (As I wrote in my COURIER column a few weeks ago, Floridians seeking abortion care will either have to travel north to states like North Carolina, which has a 72-hour waiting period or across several states west to New Mexico.)
The Jacksonville event was the fifth time in as many weeks that Harris headlined a campaign event focused on reproductive freedom.
“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,” the vice president said in northeastern Florida. “We believe the government should never come between a woman and her doctor. Never.”
Rep. Sheila Cherfius-McCormick (D-Fla.) said during a press call hosted by the Democratic Women’s Caucus that it’s not just abortion rights that are being threatened: Access to contraception, IVF and fibroid treatments are at risk too, she argued.
“Reproductive freedom goes beyond just the right to have an abortion. It’s about a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions,” McCormick told reporters. “This extreme decision is making it even harder for millions of women in Florida and throughout the South to receive much-needed medical care.”
It’s not just the top of the ticket that’s running on a promise to protect and expand reproductive health care.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) addressed the issue to open his weekly press conference last week. And he warned in one of the more viral moments of a recent interview this past Sunday on 60 Minutes that if Roe v. Wade, which many of the Supreme Court justices claimed was settled law before the Senate confirmed them to the high court.
“Social Security can fall. Medicare can fall. Voting rights can fall,” he said. “And God help us all, but democracy itself can fall.”
👋🏾 Hi, hey, hello! Welcome to Once Upon a Hill, your guide to the all things Congress through the lens of race, gender and class. Send me your tips, questions and general feedback to michael@onceuponahill.com or via direct message below—I’m all eyes. Need an extra layer of security? I have Signal, WhatsApp, and Telegram too.
Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up for free!
Israeli military forces struck targets in Rafah, a city in the Gaza Strip, after top Israeli defense officials approved a military operation in the region. The US has cautioned Israel against a ground offensive in Rafah, where more than a million Palestinian civilians have fled for safety. During a call on Monday morning with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, President Biden reiterated his position that the Middle Eastern country shouldn’t proceed in Rafah until it shows how it has factored in the security of the civilians in harm’s way.
The Israeli strikes came hours after Hamas said it accepted an ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar. The White House deferred to Israel when pressed for whether the terms were acceptable to the US. Israel said the offer fell far short from meeting its demands.
Bernie Sanders announced he will seek a fourth term in the US Senate. In an eight-minute video, the 82-year-old progressive senator said his role as the chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, part of the Senate Democratic leadership team and a senior member on the Budget, Veterans and Environment Committees, he’s in a strong position to deliver for his home state of Vermont.
Columbia University canceled its main graduation ceremony following campus protests against the war in Gaza. Instead, the Ivy League institution will hold smaller ceremonies for each of its 19 colleges. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called
The House Oversight Committee this morning will host a hearing on antisemitism in higher education. The committee will hold another hearing on Wednesday to examine DC’s response to the antisemitism on the campus of George Washington University. The House Education & Workforce Committee will also hold a hearing on antisemitism in K-12 schools the same day. In related news, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff hosted a group of Jewish college students at the White House to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Happenings
All times Eastern
At the Capitol
10 a.m. The House will meet with first votes expected at 1:30 p.m. and a second vote series scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
3 p.m. The Senate will meet with a vote at 5:30 p.m. to confirm Donna Ann Welton to be US Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, a country in Southeast Asia.
At the White House
9 a.m. President Biden will receive his daily intelligence briefing.
11:10 a.m. The president will travel from the White House to the US Capitol.
11:30 a.m. President Biden will give the keynote address at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Annual Days of Remembrance ceremony.
1:30 p.m. The president will host President Klaus Iohannis of Romania for a meeting at the White House.
3:30 p.m. First Lady Dr. Jill Biden will host a White House event to honor the men and women who served during World War I and recognize the contributions of those who made the National World War I Memorial possible.
Vice President Harris will receive briefings and conduct internal meetings with staff.
On the campaign trail
3:10 p.m. Second Gentleman Emhoff will participate in a campaign event in Atlanta.
4:30 p.m. The second gentleman will participate in another campaign event in Atlanta.
Read All About It
“Our campus, our crisis” by Columbia Daily Spectator: “Inside the encampments and crackdowns that shook American politics.”
“Congress’ odd couple—Jeffries and Johnson—mystifies lawmakers” by Riley Rogerson and Reese Gorman: “The GOP speaker and the Democratic leader have a totally unique political relationship. Do they have any personal relationship at all?”
“The Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez you don’t know” by Gaby Del Valle: “Three terms in, she’s exiting her political adolescence and coming into her own as a veteran operator.”
“Marjorie Taylor Greene was bleeding cash. Then she went after Mike Johnson.” by Ben T.N. Moore: “The Georgia Republican’s campaign had about $700,000 at the end of 2023. Since introducing a motion to vacate, she’s brought in six figures, according to a source familiar with the campaign.”
“Biden races to Trump-proof his agenda” by Andrew Restuccia: “Trump used a 1996 law to overturn Obama-era regulations. Biden’s aides hope to stop the Republican for doing it again if he wins.”
“Britney Griner’s joyful next chapter” by The Cut: “The basketball star talks to Megan Rapinoe about the life she’s survived and the happily ever after she gets now.”
“Forcing workers back to the office could be terrible for the environment” by Kate Yoder: “Who really wants to commute anyway?”
“The hidden-pregnancy experiment” by Jia Tolentino: “We are increasingly trading our privacy for a sense of security. Becoming a parent showed me how tempting, and how dangerous, that exchange can be.”
“They bought tablets in prison—and found a broken promise” by Gabrielle Caplan: “Handheld tablets are sold with the expectation that those behind bars can use them to stay in touch with loved ones. But a WIRED investigation found that federal prisons disable the tablets’ chat apps.”
“The climate crisis is already transforming the family” by Anna Louie Sussman: “Environmental and existential threats have changed parenting and fertility itself.”
“Households wince at the rising price of going green” by Stacy Meichtry, Bertrand Benoit and Phred Dvorak: “Clean energy rules carry new taxes and stiff penalties; in Paris, flunking an efficiency check exacts hefty costs in the property market.”
“Google is staring down its first serious threats in years” by John Hermann: “The search giant now faces three simultaneous challenges: government regulators, real competition, and itself.”
“I love Facebook. That’s why I’m suing Meta” by Ethan Zuckerman: “We must be able to create a more civic-minded internet, with tools that would empower users to better control what they see.”