Vice President Kamala Harris announced on Tuesday that she would be embarking on a national tour next year to advocate for women's reproductive freedoms.
"Extremists across our country continue to wage a full-on attack against hard-won, hard-fought freedoms as they push their radical policies – from banning abortion in all 50 states and criminalizing doctors, to forcing women to travel out of state in order to get the care they need," Harris said in a statement.
The first stop of the tour will take place in Wisconsin on Jan. 22, the anniversary of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. The tour's remaining stops have not yet been announced.
Harris will "host events that highlight the harm caused by these abortion bans while sharing stories of those who have been impacted," the press release said.
The Biden-Harris campaign has announced plans to focus on abortion as a central issue in President Joe Biden's re-election bid. They intend to highlight personal stories, such as that of Kate Cox, who had to travel out of Texas for an abortion after her fetus was diagnosed with a deadly disorder that could have affected her fertility.
The campaign also aims to connect restrictive abortion laws to former president Donald Trump's legacy, while emphasizing that all Republican presidential candidates "want to rip away Americans' freedoms."
"Every single Republican running in this race is as extreme as the next when it comes to abortion. You've got DeSantis and Haley who signed abortion bans, and we're talking about signing anything that comes across their desk," said Michael Tyler, communications director for the Biden-Harris campaign. "And so that stands again in stark contrast to the President & Vice President who are promising to restore Roe."
President Biden issued an executive order last year to address the issue of abortion access, and Vice President Harris has been leading the efforts following the recent Dobbs decision that overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling. The Biden-Harris campaign's focus on making abortion a central issue indicates their intention to bring this matter to a national level, rather than leaving it in the hands of state legislators.
