Kamala Harris Promises To Override State Laws & Federalize Abortion Access If Elected

Just in time for the highly anticipated presidential debate, Kamala Harris published a platform to her campaign website. Reestablishing nationwide abortion access was one of her primary policy proposals, and following the Democratic National Convention, it isn't a surprising choice. While the DNC tip toed around multiple issues, the theme that came up again and again, and that speakers were willing to address in explicit terms was abortion — or what they call “reproductive rights.”

The reversal of Roe v. Wade has been central to Democratic campaigns across the country since the United States Supreme Court's landmark Dobbs decision, that brought the issue back to the states.

Breitbart News reports:

Following the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision, the Biden-Harris White House and Democrats have called for the restoration of Roe v. Wade, which would federalize the issue of abortion again. Democrats have repeatedly tried to pass the radical Women's Health Protection Act, which they claim would restore Roe. But opponents of the legislation, including Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), say the bill is an “expansion” of Roe and could lead to abortion throughout pregnancy across the country. Biden pledged to sign the bill should it ever reach his desk, and now so has Harris. 

Ultimately, abortion is Harris's number one campaign issue, as it was for Biden before his exit from the race. While most polling shows that abortion is not a top priority for voters, one in four Democrats are single-issue voters on abortion and the majority of independents identify as “pro-choice.” The focus on abortion and painting Republicans as dangerous to women also seems like a ploy to distract from Americans' top concerns under the Biden-Harris administration: the flailing economy and the border, which is essentially open.

The hot button issue has complicated Trump's path to victory. In 2022, he blamed the pro-life movement for underwhelming midterm results for Republicans, and has also diverged from more extreme factions of the pro-life movement who oppose IVF on biblical and moral grounds. He has also said that as a Florida resident he will vote to overturn the state's six-week abortion ban, because it's “too short” and “exceptions are important.”

The Harris-Walz campaign website declares, “as President, she will never allow a national abortion ban to become law” — but there is little evidence that Trump would allow it either.

Some political experts believe he's trying to court pro-choice independent voters and disillusioned Democrats because of how close of a race pollsters are projecting.

Breitbart News continues:

The policy page erroneously calls pro-life laws “Trump abortion bans,” and slams the former president for picking the conservative Supreme Court justices who ultimately voted to overturn Roe v. Wade and send the issue of abortion to individual states. The pro-abortion pair also claim Trump will “ban abortion nationwide, restrict access to birth control, force states to report on women's miscarriages and abortions, and jeopardize access to IVF,” although he has not promised to do any of those things.

Former President Donald Trump has explicitly stated that he believes the issue of abortion should be left to individual states. He has also repeatedly expressed support for exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother. Abortions have notably drastically increased since the issue was returned to individual states.