Vice President Kamala Harris will visit Arizona on Friday to promote reproductive rights days after the state's Supreme Court upheld an 1864 near-total abortion ban.
Harris' office said she will visit Tucson “to continue her leadership in the fight for reproductive freedoms” as the verdict puts the swing state at the center of abortion politics.
According to campaign excerpts, she would criticize former President Donald Trump's record and abortion rhetoric.
The campaign spokesperson said she will speak with state and local leaders, including Senate candidate Rep. Ruben Gallego. Harris spoke in Phoenix last month about abortion and reproductive rights, a popular Democratic subject. She criticized the state Supreme Court judgment in Phoenix.
Harris led the administration's reproductive rights strategy on her "Fight for Reproductive Freedoms" tour, which visited Wisconsin, Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, and other swing states. She may have been the first president or vice president to visit an abortion facility in March.
Harris and President Joe Biden emphasize abortion access in their re-election campaign, citing Trump's boasts about "killing" Roe v. Wade with his Supreme Court choices.
New ads from the Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee have highlighted Trump's abortion views since the Arizona Supreme Court decision. In Arizona on Thursday, the Biden team began a seven-figure reproductive rights ad buy. The DNC also launched an Arizona billboard campaign criticizing Trump's abortion stance.
Trump has suggested he may soften his abortion ban stance ahead of the 2024 election, when numerous states will vote on abortion access. He said Wednesday that the Arizona Supreme Court overstepped and Monday that states should decide abortion.
The U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization permitted state abortion laws, making abortion availability a political issue. When asked, voters in red areas like Ohio, Kansas, and Kentucky supported abortion rights.
Florida, Maryland, and New York will have abortion-related issues on the November ballot, while eight additional states, including Arizona, are seeking voter approval. The Biden campaign now considers Florida "winnable" in November, citing past elections that showed "protecting abortion rights is mobilizing a diverse and growing segment of voters to help buoy Democrats up and down the ballot."
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