Building upon the momentum of a two-day bus tour through southern Georgia, Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign announced Friday it is launching a “Fighting for Reproductive Freedom” bus tour next week, starting in Palm Beach, Fla.
The campaign says the first stop will include appearances by Senator Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Harris-Walz campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Republican TV personality Ana Navarro, and reproductive rights storyteller Anya Cook to “hold [former President Donald] Trump directly accountable for the devastating impacts of overturning Roe v. Wade, including threatening access to IVF.”
Harris, who has long been a fan of bus tours (including in her first presidential bid in 2019), has been using bus tours in key battleground states such as Pennsylvania and Georgia over the last two weeks to meet voters where they are. The campaign says the reproductive rights tour will make at least 50 stops in the lead up to Election Day, “touching blue communities and red ones, with support for reproductive rights transcending party lines.”
“This election is about freedom – and the American people want and deserve the freedom to make their own health care decisions. Our campaign is hitting the road to meet voters in their communities, underscore the stakes of this election for reproductive freedom, and present them with the Harris-Walz ticket’s vision to move our country forward, which stands in stark contrast to Donald Trump’s plans to drag us back,” said Chavez Rodriguez in a statement. “As we crisscross the country, we’ll be driving that contrast home to red and blue voters and independents.”
Voters Spectrum News spoke with during Harris’ swing through Georgia brought up reproductive rights unprompted when asked what issues were driving them to the ballot box in November, an issue that benefited Democrats in 2022 when multiple states had abortion rights on the ballot, including in Michigan, Kentucky, and Kansas.
“Reproductive health is a big issue for any party, any anybody in any party, whether you're Republican, Independent like myself, or Democratic,” said Gerald Chambers.
“I feel like we shouldn't be told what we can do with our bodies by men,” said Grace Perry, who after voting for former President Trump in 2020, said she is considering casting her ballot for Harris based on the issue.
Following their appearance at the first night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last week, Amanda Zurawski, Hadley Duvall, and Kaitlyn Joshua, are also expected to join the tour. The three women have been sharing their stories of abortion, miscarriage, and pregnancy, and how denying abortion care to women can be life threatening.
Zurawski sued the state of Texas in the wake of the Dobbs decision by the Supreme Court, following a miscarriage that led to a life-threatening case of sepsis after being denied abortion care. Joshua, in telling her story over the years, has detailed being turned away from two emergency rooms in the middle of a miscarriage. Duvall was raped and impregnated by her stepfather at age 12, and while she ultimately miscarried, her home state of Kentucky currently excludes exceptions for cases of rape or incest — meaning that women and girls in a similar situation are excluded.
“What is so beautiful about a child having to carry her parent’s child?” Duvall questioned in a poignant moment on the DNC stage in Chicago.
Part of Harris’ stump speech over the last several weeks has been a promise that if Congress were to expand and protect reproductive rights with legislative action, she would sign the bill immediately. “One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling her what to do,” Harris said during her rally in Savannah Thursday, adding a warning that despite Trump’s insistence that leaving the issue up to individual states is the right approach, he will sign a national abortion ban if elected.
The campaign has teased appearances by elected officials, celebrities, and Republicans for Harris-Walz over the course of the tour.