Vice President Kamala Harris delivered a fiery speech at a pro-abortion activist gala on Tuesday, calling all Democrats to fight for abortion rights.
The vice president spoke at the EMILY’s List gala in Washington, DC, referring to Monday’s leak of a Supreme Court justice’s opinion suggesting that justices were preparing to overturn Roe v. Wade.
She warned that if Roe v. Wade was overturned, women would lose access to abortion in 13 states as Republicans continue working to enact pro-life laws.
“Well we say, how dare they!” Harris said, raising her voice. “How dare they tell a woman what she can do and can not do with her own body! How dare they! How dare they try to stop her from determining her future!”
Harris voiced solidarity with the activists in the room, pointing to a new phase in the fight for abortion rights.
“There is nothing hypothetical about this moment,” she said, urging Democrats to rally behind groups like EMILY’s List to defend abortion.
Harris said when she was in the senate, she once asked if there were similar laws for men.
“Can you think of any laws that give the government power to make decisions about the male body?” she recalled. “And the response, you’ll recall, was essential, ‘Can’t think of any.”
Harris described Republicans as trying to use the law to “bully” abortion providers and continue working to punish women who sought abortions.
“We are not going back. We are not going back,” she repeated. “Because at our core is that the strength of our country, is that we fight to move forward.”
Harris echoed the false talking point that overturning Roe v. Wade would endanger all Americans’ right to privacy.
“Women’s issues are America’s issues and Democracies cannot be strong if the rights of women are under attack,” she said.
Harris called for action, urging them to stand with pro-abortion candidates for Congress.
“To all here I say, let us fight for our country and for the principles upon it was founded, and let us fight with everything we’ve got,” she concluded. “God bless you. And God bless America.”