US Vice President Kamala Harris joined many pro-choice voices who condemned the Conservative-majority Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion rights ruling. In her latest remarks, Harris said the voters would have the final say on whether the landmark ruling would be reinstated.
In her remarks at a conference in Illinois Friday last week following the high court’s publishing of the ruling on the same day, Harris said the public will have the final say on whether the ruling, which legalized abortion in 1973, would be reinstated.
The court voted 6-3 to uphold the ban in Mississippi that bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy while also overturning Roe v. Wade.
“Millions of women in America will go to bed tonight without access to the health care and reproductive care that they had this morning,” said Harris. “Without access to the same health care or reproductive health care that their mothers and grandmothers had for 50 years.”
“This is not over,” said Harris. “You have the power to elect leaders who will defend and protect your rights.”
President Joe Biden also warned that by overturning Roe v. Wade, women’s health is now at risk and vowed that his administration would do everything it can to challenge the ruling by protecting and upholding women’s access to abortion medications provided by the Food and Drug Administration.
Biden said Congress is capable of codifying Roe v. Wade into federal law. Biden also called on the public to elect more officials who are pro-choice in the coming midterm elections in November.
Ahead of the court’s publishing of the decision, Harris met with Democratic state attorneys general in Washington to discuss their role in protecting the health of women and a woman’s bodily autonomy.
During the meeting, they discussed their authorities in defending women’s reproductive rights as the attorneys general also discussed their efforts so far to protect access to reproductive health care in their states.
The meeting followed previous meetings Harris had with healthcare providers, religious leaders, and experts in constitutional law, privacy, and technology in anticipation of the court’s ruling.