Vice President Kamala Harris told a University of Maryland crowd Monday that if Donald Trump is elected president, he would enact harsh restrictions on reproductive rights, including a nationwide ban on abortions and restrictions on contraception and in vitro fertilization.
The event in front of a crowd of 400 at a campus gymnasium marked the second anniversary of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned the constitutional right to abortion. It was also part of several days of events highlighting abortion — and criticizing Republican positions — ahead of Thursday’s first presidential debate.
“His friends in the United States Congress are trying to pass a national ban that would outlaw abortion in every single state, in states like New York and California and even right here in Maryland,” Harris said in front of a large blue sign reading “Trust Women.” The crowd booed.
“In the case of the stealing of reproductive freedom from the women of America, Donald Trump is guilty,” Harris said.
Trump has said he favors states determining their abortion laws over a national ban. His three Supreme Court nominees voted to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision that established a national right to an abortion.
A group of Maryland Democrats — Senate nominee Angela Alsobrooks, U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen and U.S. Rep. Glenn Ivey — joined Harris at the rally, along with reproductive rights activists.
Monday marked Harris’ second campaign event in Maryland this month after she endorsed Alsobrooks on June 7 in Landover at an event focused on gun violence. Abortion will be a central issue in the race between Alsobrooks and Republican former Gov. Larry Hogan that could decide which party controls the U.S. Senate.
Alsobrooks stressed the threat that a Republican-controlled U.S. Senate could pose to reproductive rights, namely a nationwide ban on abortion.
“Republicans have targeted Maryland as their opportunity to take control of the Senate and have their way,” Alsobrooks said.
Hogan said last month that he supports a national law allowing abortions up to 26 weeks after pregnancy, even though he’s personally opposed to abortion. Still, Van Hollen said that “Marylanders just cannot trust Larry Hogan” when it comes to abortion.
“This guy now goes around saying he is ‘pro choice,’” Van Hollen said. “The problem is he has a record that tells us the exact opposite. So now we see Larry Hogan bobbing and weaving, zigging and zagging, flipping and flopping.”
Hogan had to make few calls related to abortion during his two terms as governor, as Maryland law has guaranteed reproductive choice since the early 1990s. In 2022, he vetoed a bill designed to increase abortion access in Maryland counties.
Alsobrooks, the Prince George’s County executive, has said she would cosponsor a bill that would reinstate a nationwide right to abortion care and opposes a firm cutoff for when women can get abortions during pregnancy.
During Harris’ speech, Hogan took to social media to reaffirm his commitment to protecting abortion access.
“Whether it be the decision to start a family with the help of IVF, or exercise her reproductive rights, nothing and no one — especially partisan politics — should come between a woman and her doctor,” he posted.
While Maryland has not elected a Republican U.S. senator since 1980, Democrats recognize Hogan as a strong candidate who won the governorship twice statewide.
Maryland is one of several states where abortion will be on the ballot this fall. Voters will be asked whether to solidify reproductive rights, including the right to abortion, in the state constitution. Cheers erupted from the audience when Van Hollen encouraged a “yes” vote on the ballot question.
Harris’ stop in Prince George’s County was one of more than 50 events about reproductive rights the Biden campaign has scheduled this week in line with the anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling. Harris is traveling to Arizona later on Monday. Biden and Trump will square off in the first presidential debate of the 2024 general election on Thursday evening in Atlanta.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights research and education organization, 14 states have banned abortion since the Dobbs decision and another six states have banned the procedure after 6, 12 or 15 weeks. Maryland is one of nine states with no ban. The Guttmacher Institute estimates 38,600 clinician-provided abortions took place in Maryland in 2023.
Other reproductive rights advocates also spoke at UMD’s Ritchie Coliseum. Kate Cox, a Texas woman who unsuccessfully sued her home state to receive an abortion under its restrictive ban, introduced Harris. Cox’s fetus had had a fatal genetic condition that would cause the baby to die within days of birth and posed threats to her own fertility. In the end, Cox traveled to New Mexico obtain the procedure.
“Our story is playing out in countless cities and states across America every day,” Cox said “Because of these extreme abortion bans, women are going through the nightmare that I did. It breaks my heart.”
It was Cox — not Harris — who received loudest cheer of the rally. Cox wiped away tears when the crowd rose to its feet and let out 30 seconds of applause after she made an announcement: she was pregnant again.
Correction: This story has been updated to correct that a Republican has not been elected U.S. senator in Maryland since 1980.
