Vice President Kamala Harris has, for the past several months, focused largely on the issue of protecting reproductive rights amid the Supreme Court’s decision to turn rules over abortion access to the states. 

Since May – well before the nation’s highest court overturned the federal precedent protecting abortion – Harris has met with over 150 state lawmakers across 18 states to discuss ways to expand protections for reproductive care, per the White House. The issue has only taken on more importance in the leadup to this year’s midterm elections, with experts noting voter registration, engagement and interest in the upcoming election surged after the abortion ruling. 

Harris on Wednesday continued her cross-country tour to discuss the issue, joining a roundtable event at the Central Connecticut State University in New Britain alongside Alexis McGill Johnson, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

“Let's not overlook that there's so much about what is happening now that is profoundly steeped in judgment about women's sexuality,” Harris said in part. “So not only has a right been taken, but there is a tone and a tenor by which it is happening that is highly judgmental and therefore intended, probably, maybe sometimes unintended, to make a person feel ashamed and alone.”

Harris, as she has in the past, warned that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas “said the quiet part out loud” in his concurring opinion to the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, in which the justice argued that other landmark cases including those pertaining to same-sex marriage and contraception. Harris mentioned multiple times the importance of coalition building and to bring advocates who work on a variety of issues to spur tides of change in the opposite direction.

“There's a piece of it that is about encouraging and applauding people who stand up and fight for the rights of themselves and others,” Harris said in part, saying the movement must “bring everybody together in a way that we build the coalition and also remind people of what I think is essential, which is that no one should be made to fight alone, especially when you're fighting for fundamental rights.”

But the work will be different across state lines, Harris acknowledged, as states vary widely in the nature of their laws concerning reproductive health.  

And while most Republicans lauded the Supreme Court’s decision for sending the issue back to the states, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., recently proposed legislation that would make nearly all abortions after 15 weeks illegal at the federal level, a move decried both by Democrats and by members of his own party.  

The vice president touched on the importance of a national law that would do the opposite of Graham’s proposal and codify abortion access at the federal level, saying such legislation would address laws in the dozen-plus states that have criminalized abortion to varying degrees. In order to pass such legislation, Democrats will likely need a majority in both the House and the Senate. 

“Let's organize, let's link arms and do what we need to do, including in the next 34 days around the country,” Harris said. “This is not a political event, but it is a fact that in 34 days, there is a midterm coming up. And the facts must be spoken.”

And it’s not only access to reproductive care that is on the ballot this fall, Harris said on Wednesday, noting that many states with the most restrictive abortion bans are also seeing attacks on voting rights, LGBTQ+ protections and other aspects of women’s health. 

It was a similar message to one she delivered several weeks ago at the Democratic Attorneys General Association Conference in Wisconsin, where she told those present they are on the frontlines of defending the rights of their constituents. 

“Today, our nation faces many threats to our rights and our freedoms. And we must stand united to uphold the sacred oath,” Harris said at the time. “We have each taken to protect the people of our nation to support and defend these foundational principles that are now at stake and to build a more just, more safe and more equitable future for all people. Together, we believe in the promise of our nation.”