HARRIS ZEROES IN ON ABORTION — Presidential candidate Kamala Harris pulled no punches when it came to abortion in her speech accepting the Democratic nomination Thursday. She hammered former President Donald Trump for appointing the justices who overturned Roe v. Wade and said that, if elected, he would restrict access to birth control, ban medication abortion and enact a nationwide abortion ban — even without Congress. She tied him to the controversial Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 and its extensive conservative policy blueprint from which Trump has tried to distance himself. “They are out of their minds,” Harris said. Harris’ focus on the issue signals she’ll lean heavily into abortion and reproductive rights in her campaign. Her speech was a marked shift from President Joe Biden, a devout Catholic who has been more reluctant to discuss abortion. Instead, he leaned more heavily into one of his administration’s landmark health care policy: giving Medicare the power to negotiate drug prices. Democrats have a substantial polling edge over Republicans on abortion, and Harris has taken a no-holds-barred approach to the issue. Harris and surrogates frequently painted her as a fighter for the future. Her messaging centered on women being unable to make decisions about abortion under Trump, including women suffering from health issues and children surviving sexual assault who are forced to carry a pregnancy to term. She also pointed to doctors in several states who fear the legal consequences of prescribing abortion medication or performing the procedure. Harris didn’t touch much on other health care issues in a relatively brief acceptance speech. She gestured that she’d protect Medicare and framed health care as a cost issue in an apparent bid to counter Republicans’ messaging on cost-of-living issues. The Trump campaign’s response was telling. His campaign’s rapid-response messaging focused on casting Harris as far left and tied her to rising costs and “Bidenomics” and issues at the southern border — issues on which Republicans poll better than Democrats. The Trump campaign said Harris was “lying” about his abortion position, saying he wouldn’t sign a national abortion ban. Trump has said he’d leave abortion to the states in an effort to moderate the GOP’s stance on abortion. In a Truth Social post, Trump called accusations that he'd restrict access to birth control or in vitro fertilization "A LIE." The Trump campaign also shared clips from the 2020 presidential primary in which Harris endorsed Medicare for All, a position that’s no longer on her agenda. Harris hit Trump for trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act, pulling out one of her signature lines: “We are not going back.” WELCOME TO FRIDAY PULSE. We hope you won’t miss us too much during our week off. Staffers, lobbyists and others in health policy: Let’s grab coffee next week. Ping me at bleonard@politico.com. Send your tips, scoops and feedback to bleonard@politico.com and ccirruzzo@politico.com and follow along @_BenLeonard_ and @ChelseaCirruzzo.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment