NC advocates, Dems praise Kamala Harris’ leadership on reproductive rights

Harris has vowed to restore abortion rights nationwide, if elected, and has been a staunch defender of reproductive freedom, and her commitment to those positions is gaining praise in North Carolina.

There were thousands of places Kamala Harris could have gone that day. 

But on June 24, 2023, the one-year anniversary of the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the vice president came to North Carolina, a state where Republicans had just passed their own abortion ban, overriding broad support for abortion access and a veto from Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. 

On that day, Harris, a longtime supporter of reproductive rights, highlighted the devastating consequences of the Court’s striking down of Roe, as well as abortion bans passed in red states across the country. 

“Over the past 365 days, the women of our nation have suffered under the consequences of these laws. Laws that in design and effect have created chaos, confusion, and fear. Laws that have denied the women of our country care even when their life and health were at risk,” Harris said at the Grady Cole Center in Charlotte. 

A little more than a year later, Harris is now the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee for president, following President Joe Biden’s decision to end his campaign and endorse Harris. And since launching her campaign on July 21st, Harris has made reproductive freedom a key focus, vowing to restore abortion rights nationwide, if elected. 

Her campaign has also invigorated voters and Democrats across the country, including in North Carolina. 

“There’s no other word but energized. People are fired up about it,” Garrett Readling, the Communications Director with the Young Democrats of North Carolina (YDNC), told Cardinal & Pine. 

Charles DeLoach, the vice chair of the Mecklenburg County Young Democrats, said he believes that Harris’ stance on reproductive rights will be one of her greatest assets in this campaign.

“I think it’s going to be protecting women’s reproductive healthcare. Making sure that there is no sort of nationwide ban, and if we can control Congress, we can actually codify Roe v. Wade, and make it so that our current state ban is something of the past.”

Harris’ stance could win over young and rural voters 

North Carolina, like all states across the South, has felt the aftershocks of the Court’s ruling overturning Roe. 

In May 2023, the Republican supermajority passed SB 20 along party lines, which restricted access to abortion to 12 weeks. There are some exceptions, including up to 20 weeks if the pregnancy occurred due to rape or incest, and up to 24 weeks if the pregnancy resulted in a fetal anomaly. There are no limitations for abortion if the life of the mother is at risk.

But the state could see further restrictions to abortion rights, especially if Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson wins the gubernatorial election this fall and Republicans maintain control of the General Assembly. 

Robinson has made clear he supports banning abortion in all cases.

“We’ve got it down to 12 weeks. The next goal is to get it down to six, and then just keep moving from there,” he said in February.

While speaking to the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority in Indiana last Wednesday, Harris reiterated her support for protecting reproductive rights.

“We who believe in reproductive freedom will fight for a woman’s right to choose because one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling her what to do,” she said.

Harris also recommitted to codifying Roe into law, which would nullify restrictions and bans at the state level, like SB 20. 

Shannon King, the Deep Canvass Manager at Down Home North Carolina, has talked to voters in rural communities, mostly in Granville and Alamance counties. She says the majority of voters she has talked to, most of whom are unaffiliated, oppose strict abortion bans.

“Over half of the people that we speak with, they are not for an abortion ban,” she told Cardinal & Pine. “Even with folks who are not for abortion, they don’t believe a complete ban is the right answer either.”

Based on the conversations she’s had with voters, King believes Harris’ support for codifying Roe will resonate with voters in those rural communities. 

Readling, meanwhile, believes Harris’ focus on abortion will help increase youth turnout this year.

“I think young people especially, are fired up about not going back, not having less rights than their parents and grandparents did. And I think that Vice President Harris’ message of freedom and not going back resonates perfectly with that.” 

That message of freedom is the same one Harris put forth during her Charlotte speech last June:  “We know this fight will not truly be won until we secure this right for every American, which means, ultimately, the United States Congress must put back in place what the Supreme Court took away, and have the courage to stand for freedom in every way.”