Vice President Kamala Harris joined Oprah Winfrey on Thursday for an emotional town hall event, which featured the families of victims of an abortion ban and a recent school mass shooting.
The event was held in Michigan, a key battleground state that shows Harris with a 2.7% lead over Donald Trump, according to 538 polling averages. The Harris campaign saw the event as a massive opportunity to reach a broad section of persuadable voters.
The forum gave Harris the platform to reach voters and discuss her position on abortion, gun, immigration, and economic policies. Several grassroots groups such as Win With Black Women, White Dudes for Harris and Cat Ladies For Kamala all were at the event as well.
In a heartbreaking moment, the family of Amber Thurman — the Georgia woman who ProPublica reported died of sepsis resulting from an incomplete medication abortion after waiting 20 hours in an Atlanta hospital — told her story.
“Initially, I did not want the public to know my pain,” Thurman’s mother, Shanette Williams, said. “I wanted to go through in silence. But I realized that it was selfish. I want y’all to know that Amber was not a statistic. She was loved by a family, a strong family, and we would have done whatever to get my baby, our baby, the help that she needed.”
Several audience members wiped away tears and Harris herself became emotional when responding to the family.
“I’m just so sorry,” Harris told them. “And the courage that you all have shown is extraordinary because also, you just learned about how it is that she died.”
“And Amber’s mom shared with me that the word over and over again in her mind is ‘preventable.’ Preventable. That word keeps coming to her. And this story is a story that is, sadly, not the only story of what has been happening since these bans have taken place,” Harris continued.
