Vice President Kamala Harris is launching a nationwide tour to promote abortion access as President Biden’s 2024 team starts ramping up its campaign efforts.
The “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” tour will start in Wisconsin on January 22, which is the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade, according to a statement from the White House. More dates and locations will be announced soon.
Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court case that legalized abortion nationwide, was overturned in June last year.
“There is a full-on attack in our country against the ability of people to just make decisions about their own body and their life,” Harris said in a video message posted Tuesday to X.
Across our nation, there is a full-on attack on a woman's fundamental freedom to make decisions about her own body.
In the new year, I will be traveling the country to organize, build community, and fight back.
Because when we fight, we win. pic.twitter.com/wvZF94FJZa
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) December 19, 2023
She added in a statement, “Extremists across our country continue to wage a full-on attack against hard-won, hard-fought freedoms as they push their radical policies – from banning abortion in all 50 states and criminalizing doctors, to forcing women to travel out of state in order to get the care they need.”
The tour comes as polls show that for the first time, Americans view Harris more favorably than President Biden, whose approval numbers are currently in the basement.
Biden received a dismal 34% approval rating while Harris enjoyed a slightly higher 35% approval, according to a Monday poll from Monmouth University.
During the tour, Harris will host events that “highlight the harm caused by these abortion bans” and share “stories of those who have been impacted.”
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Harris will also “hold extremists accountable” for proposing a national abortion ban and call on Congress to reestablish legalized abortion as provided by Roe v. Wade, the White House said. The vice president will also promote what the Biden administration is doing to preserve legal abortion and “urge attendees to use their voices and stay engaged in the fight for fundamental freedoms.”
In September, Harris went on a separate “Fight for Our Freedoms” college tour in eight states where she emphasized abortion, as well as gun laws, climate change, voting laws, LGBT issues, “teaching America’s full history,” and books restricted by certain school districts for what some parents say is inappropriate content.
Abortion has remained a hot button issue as the presidential election cycle heats up, especially in the wake of nearly two dozen state bans restricting abortion, some with very limited exceptions.
Republicans have celebrated the pro-life movement’s recent victories, while Democrats have leaned into the abortion issue, hoping their efforts will yield voter backlash in 2024.
In 2020, there were more than 620,000 abortions across 47 states and the District of Columbia, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Guttmacher Institute puts the national total significantly higher at more than 930,000 abortions for 2020.
Only half of Americans want abortion to be legal after 15 weeks, which is around the beginning of the second trimester, according to a June Associated Press poll.