When U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris formally accepted the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday night, she highlighted an issue that dominated the party’s convention this week: the reality millions of women face without access to abortion.
Each day of the convention, audiences inside Chicago’s United Center and watching from home heard harrowing stories from women who faced the prospect of carrying their rapist’s child to term, nearly dying from a miscarriage at home after being denied medical treatment, and almost losing their ability to get pregnant when they chose to be. Harris said she’s heard similar stories from women, as well as their husbands and fathers, across the country in the two years since the U.S.
Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which led to abortion bans and restrictions in more than half of all U.S.
states. And she warned that Donald Trump and the Republican Party won’t stop there. “This is what’s happening in our country,” she said Thursday.
“And understand: he’s not done.” Abortion access was set to be a key election issue well before Harris, an outspoken advocate for reproductive rights and women’s health, replaced U.S.
President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee. But Democrats are betting it will gain even more attention under Harris, who leads Trump on abortion by 27 points among voters, according to an early August poll by Ipsos. They’re also hoping that wide margin will overcome the leads Trump has over Harri.