Kamala Harris uses Florida abortion ban as cudgel against Donald Trump

Democrats say Florida is in play in 2024, and Republicans mock the argument.

But at Jacksonville’s Prime Osborn Center, Vice President Kamala Harris was in campaign mode as if the state was within striking distance.

Harris, as foretold by the Joe Biden re-election campaign, spent much of the speech blaming Florida’s Heartbeat Protection Act and other kindred restrictions in GOP-dominated states on Donald Trump.

“The fight for freedom, the fundamental freedom to make decisions about one’s own body and not have their government tell them what they’re supposed to do,” was how Harris summed up the “state-by-state assault on reproductive freedom.”

“Trump did this,” Harris said, saying his SCOTUS picks were “intended to overturn” 1973’s Roe v. Wade, which happened in 2022’s Dobbs decision.

“Because of Donald Trump, more than 20 states have abortion bans,” Harris added, saying Florida’s was the latest “Trump abortion ban,” one creating a “new reality” for “4 million” Florida women and doctors regarding reproductive care “starting this morning,” putting them in the same position as “1 in 3” women in other states dealing with abortion bans.

Regarding Florida’s ban after the sixth week of pregnancy, Harris delivered a sharp line at its authors.

“This ban applies to many women before they even know they are pregnant — which tells us the extremists who wrote this ban don’t even know how a woman’s body works. Or they just don’t care.”

Harris also told a personal story of her childhood best friend being molested, questioning the “immoral” law that would stop her from having an abortion.

“The government should not be telling her what to do,” Harris said to applause.

Harris noted other consequences of abortion bans, including the closure of women’s health clinics.

“This truly is a health care crisis. And Donald Trump is the architect.”

She also predicted that Trump would sign a “national abortion ban,” invoking Maya Angelou’s famous quote in explaining what a second Trump term would look like.

“When someone tells you who they are, believe them the first time. And Donald Trump has told us who he is.”

Democrats hope and expect that Amendment 4, which would legalize abortion up until the point of viability, will be a rallying cry for their cause, and that citizens’ initiative will be in front of voters along with the presidential race. Harris seems to share that enthusiasm.

“Up and down the ballot,” Harris said. “Reproductive freedom is on the ballot.”

The Vice President noted that ballot initiatives elsewhere show that’s a popular concept.

“Since Roe was overturned, every time reproductive freedom has been on the ballot, the people of America voted for freedom. From Kansas to California, to Kentucky in Michigan, Montana, Vermont and Ohio, the people of America voted for freedom and not by a little, but often by overwhelming margins, proving also that this is not a partisan issue.