THE STORY
ATLANTA — Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday slammed former President Donald Trump and Republicans, labeling them as “hypocrites” and labeled Trump as a threat to women’s freedoms in a high-profile speech in the battleground state of Georgia.
Harris’ remarks come after a ProPublica report detailed the deaths of two Georgia women it said were a direct result of the state’s six-week abortion ban.
Harris said the women’s deaths were preventable but predictable because of laws that have been put in place after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
“She had her future all planned out,” Harris said. “And it was her plan. What she wanted to do for herself, for her son, for their future.”
“She was loved,” she added. “And she should be alive today.”
GOING IN DEPTH
Harris gave her most direct remarks yet on abortion, going after Trump and using his own words against him.
“These hypocrites want to start talking about what’s in the best interest of women and children,” she continued. “Well, where ya been, where ya been when it comes to taking care of the women and children of America, where ya been? How dare they?”
She mocked Trump’s flip-flopping record on abortion — saying that, if he is elected, he would ban abortion nationwide.
“This is a health care crisis, and Donald Trump is the architect,” she said. “He brags about overturning Roe v. Wade in his own words, quote, ‘I did it, and I’m proud to have done it.’ He is proud, proud that women are done.”
“He is proud that women are dying, proud that doctors and nurses could be thrown in prison for administering care, proud that young women should have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers,” she added.
Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Friday that Trump “has always supported exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother, which Georgia’s law provides.”
Currently, Harris is in a tight battle with Trump in the polls in the state, according to 538’s average. Trump leads by a one-point in Georgia, with 48% compared to Harris’ 47%.
