It’s easy to underestimate Vice President Kamala Harris. Other than her truly awful pantsuits and her tendency to use 30 unintelligible words when three would suffice, Harris has little to offer by way of legitimate political talent. She is the diversity hire par excellence — the first female, first Asian, and first Black vice president picked to balance the ticket and appease radical Democrats. Yet, she’s so incompetent and unlikeable that even Democrats have expressed concern that President Joe Biden’s old age might require a passing of the torch during his second term.
But even with her track record of mind-numbing word-salad sound bites, Harris has been set loose to speak at “reproductive rights” rallies across the nation. Her “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” tour started this week on Monday, the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade. And as Biden looks to make abortion a central issue in the upcoming election, Harris isn’t doing as poorly as Republicans might expect her to.
Harris Sticks to the Script
When it comes to public speaking, Harris embarrasses herself just as often as Biden does — but without the excuse of old age. But Harris seems to be sticking to the script with her abortion rallies — and it’s a pretty good script, as far as political rallies go. Harris is no rhetorical genius, but she’s doubling down on major pro-choice arguments with plenty of emotional appeal.
Harris began her Wisconsin rally by invoking freedom as the “fundamental promise of America.” She continued: “In America, freedom is not to be given. It is not to be bestowed. It is ours by right … And that includes the freedom to make decisions about one’s own body — not the government telling you what to do.” (RELATED: Eleven States to Vote on Abortion in 2024)
Harris went on to acknowledge the would-be 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade, lamenting “extremists” who want to “criminalize doctors and punish women,” “threaten doctors and nurses with prison time,” and “make no exception, even for rape and incest.” She claimed that one in three women of reproductive age currently live in a state with an abortion ban, and she made the classic argument that conservatives — sorry, extremists — don’t care about maternal mortality.
Democrats Rely on Emotional Manipulation
Harris doubled down on emotional appeal by sharing the story of a Wisconsin woman named Meagan, who was pregnant with a child diagnosed with a severe genetic disorder. Doctors pronounced her pregnancy to be “life-threatening,” and Meagan ended up traveling to Minnesota to obtain the abortion she couldn’t undergo in Wisconsin.
“The reality of what is happening in real time across our country is that, for every story we hear, there are so many that we do not hear about,” Harris said. “Today, an untold number of women are silently suffering — women who are being subjected to profound judgment; women who are being made to feel as though they did something wrong, as though they should be embarrassed, being made to feel as though they are alone.”
It’s powerful stuff. With stories like Meagan’s, Democrats can disguise their abortion extremism as compassion — in this case, abortion is cast as “healthcare,” and pro-life voters are cast as villains who want to see them suffer. It’s a tactic detached from rational consideration, and that’s why it’s so convincing. Many Republican voters would find themselves convinced by Harris’s words. When abortion is spun as personal freedom and a medical necessity rather than the intentional killing of a child, pathos lures listeners leftward.
Harris Uses Roe as a Rhetorical Trojan Horse
Though Harris casts abortion as a private choice that should be left to a woman and her doctor, her actual agenda is far more progressive: abortion for anyone, at any time, and at any stage of pregnancy. The only problem is that this isn’t exactly what she’s telling voters.
“The bottom line is,” she said on Monday, “To truly protect reproductive freedoms, we must restore the protections of Roe.” But does Harris really want to restore the trimester framework of Roe — the framework discarded and recast in 1992 by the Supreme Court’s Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision — or does she want something more radical?
Under Roe, states would be able to regulate abortion in the second trimester and fully ban it in the third trimester. According to Harris’s rhetoric, only extremists would support a judicial decision that allows states to prohibit late-term abortions.
Biden, too, has embraced the mantle of Roe, claiming on Tuesday that he “believe[s] Roe v. Wade got it right,” and that he would love to see a Democratic majority in Congress “pass a new law restoring the protections of Roe v. Wade.”
If abortion is going to be a central issue for the Biden-Harris campaign, why not just address it head-on? Why bother with the window dressing of “restoring Roe” at all? Perhaps because only 34 percent of Americans believe that abortion should be legal under any circumstances, according to a Gallup poll from last summer. Abortion restrictions might not be popular in an all-or-nothing contest, but Biden and Harris outflank most Americans with their abortion radicalism.
With 284 days until Election Day this November, Republicans have limited time to polish their pro-life talking points, but they should certainly get ready to attack the Left’s abortion rhetoric. Harris may have emotion on her side, but she and Biden have plenty of weaknesses. Going on the offensive and demanding that they clarify exactly what abortion policies they support might not sway many votes, but it would certainly make the moral stakes of this election clearer.
Mary Frances Myler is a writer from Northern Michigan now living in Washington, D.C. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2022.
READ MORE by Mary Frances Myler:
New EPA Regulations Are a Death Sentence for Small Oil and Gas Producers