Kamala Harris became the first Vice President to visit an abortion facility Thursday, as she toured a Planned Parenthood in St. Paul, Minnesota. The visit marked a stop along her “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” tour.
Harris began her visit by claiming that the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade stripped women of their constitutionally protected right to abortion. Despite this claim, the ability for a woman to kill her own child has never been a legitimate constitutional right.
As she spoke, Harris worked hard to persuade supporters that Planned Parenthood is a “health care clinic,” making the claim that if abortion facilities were to shut down there would be nowhere else for women to access vital medical care. This is despite the fact that Planned Parenthood only serves an estimated 3% of women of reproductive age.
“The reason I’m here is because this is a health care crisis,” Harris said. “Part of this health care crisis is the clinics like this that have had to shut down and what that has meant to leave no options with any reasonable geographic area for so many women who need this essential care.”
The true crisis, however, is the shortage of maternity care — not abortion. As previously reported by Live Action News, “36% of counties across the U.S. are designated as maternity care deserts,” meaning they have “zero obstetric hospitals or birth centers and zero obstetric providers.” And according to a 2017 Guttmacher report, “808 abortion facilities categorized by Guttmacher as ‘clinics,’ (which provided 95% of all abortions in 2017) just 27% offered general health care, and only 18% offered any type of prenatal and/or obstetric care.” That would include Planned Parenthood facilities.
“I’ve heard stories of and met with women who’ve had miscarriages and women who were being denied emergency care because the health care providers there at an emergency room were afraid that, because of the laws in their state, that they could be criminalized, sent to prison for providing health care,” she said. “So I’m here at this health care clinic to uplift the work that is happening in Minnesota as an example of what true leadership looks like,” she added. “It’s only right and fair that people have access to the health care they need. And they are treated in an environment with dignity and respect.”
Harris also took a shot at those advocating for the rights of preborn children in the womb.
“In this environment, these attacks against an individual’s right to make decisions about their own body are outrageous and in many instances just plain old immoral,” she stated. “How dare these elected leaders believe they are in a better position to tell women what they need, to tell women what is in their best interest.” But abortion, unlike obtaining a service like a Pap smear, intentionally kills a human being in the womb:
Harris’ speech was rife with misinformation. Though she touted Planned Parenthood as a respected healthcare provider that offers services like breast cancer screenings, the organization’s own reports debunk this claim.
As Live Action News has previously shown, Planned Parenthood facilities do not provide mammograms. The latest Planned Parenthood annual report (2021-22) shows that many routine health services at the facility decreased during that time period, including prenatal care and miscarriage care/STI testing & treatments. While the organization has always been a nationwide leader in committing abortions, it is now also making a significant business in providing hormone injections for transgender-identifying individuals. Despite Harris’ claim, neither abortion nor such hormone injections are necessary health care needed by women.
Those who lobby for pro-life laws do so because they are trying to save preborn children from a brutal and horrific death, which comes as they are deprived of the nutrients they need, torn apart limb by limb, or poisoned in their mother’s womb. Advocating for these innocent children isn’t immoral and it isn’t trying to deprive women from making decisions about their bodies —it’s merely making sure that the children in the womb, who are separate and distinct human people, do not have their right to life snuffed out.
