Kamala Harris tours abortion clinic in historic first for a VP
Vice President Kamala Harris visited a Minnesota abortion clinic on Thursday, the first time a sitting president or veep has been known to do so.
Harris travelled to the Land of 10,000 Lakes as part of her “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” tour, and stopped at a St. Paul Planned Parenthood location that offers abortion services.
The VP met with staff, spoke to reporters and was greeted by clinic Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sarah Traxler and Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz — who signed a law last year enshrining abortion as a “fundamental right” for women in the state.
“Right now in our country, we are facing a very serious health crisis,” began Harris, who claimed that “extremists” in other states have passed “outrageous” and “immoral” laws that have denied women access to abortion and that she was there to “uplift” the work being done in Minnesota.
Repeating earlier statements she has made since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June of 2022, Harris argued “one does not have to abandon their faith” to believe that the government “should not be telling women what to do with their bodies.”
The White House did not immediately respond to an inquiry from The Post.
In 2013, President Barack Obama became the first sitting chief executive to address Planned Parenthood’s national conference in Washington, DC.
Harris’ visit to a clinic goes one step beyond Obama’s verbal support of the controversial organization.
Abortion has been a central topic in the Biden-Harris re-election campaign. Harris has already visited Wisconsin, California, Georgia, Michigan and Arizona as part of her “Reproductive Freedoms” tour, and has been campaigning heavily since Biden’s State of the Union address last week.
Minnesota has voted Democratic in every presidential election since 1976, but the March 5 primary saw 18.9% vote “uncommitted” — sending a warning to Biden over his policies toward Israel.
Polls also show a tight race in the state between the incumbent and former President Donald Trump.
Minnesota’s abortion law states that “[e]very individual who becomes pregnant has a fundamental right to continue the pregnancy and give birth, or obtain an abortion, and to make autonomous decisions about how to exercise this fundamental right.”
