Harris and Beyoncé join forces at Texas rally for abortion rights, hoping battleground states will hear them

Some of them had already campaigned for Harris, while others told their harrowing stories in campaign ads intended to show how the issue had blossomed into something much more important than the right to end an unwanted pregnancy.

Since Texas banned abortion, the state’s infant mortality rate has increased, more babies have died from birth defects, and the maternal mortality rate has increased.

Amid the heat of the presidential election, the Democratic candidate is banking on abortion rights as a major driving force for voters – including Republican women, especially since Trump nominated three Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn the constitutional right, and he has been inconsistent in what to how he will approach the issue if voters return him to the White House.

Her anthem was Beyonce’s 2016 song “Freedom,” whose message aligns with the vice president’s efforts to advocate for reproductive freedom. The singer’s scheduled performance on Friday adds a star-studded touch to Harris’ visit to the state. While in Texas, Harris will also record a podcast with popular host Brené Brown.

There is some evidence to suggest that abortion rights could drive women to the polls, as they did in the 2022 midterm elections. Voters in seven states, including some conservative ones, either protected abortion rights or defeated attempts to restrict them in statewide ballots over the past two years.

“Living in Texas, protecting women’s health and safety is extremely important,” said Austin voter Colette Clark. She said voting for Harris is the best way to prevent further restrictions on abortion across the country.

Another Austin resident, Daniel Kardish, didn’t know anyone personally affected by the restrictions, but he still sees it as a key issue in this election.

“I am convinced that women have bodily autonomy,” he said.

Harris said this week that she found the issue compelling enough to motivate even Republican women, adding, “for so many of us, our daughter will have fewer rights than their grandmother.”

“When the issue of a woman’s freedom to make decisions about her own body is on the ballot, Americans vote for freedom regardless of the party in which they are registered to vote,” Harris said.

Harris probably won’t win Texas, but that’s not the point of her presence Friday.

“Of all the states in the country, Texas is ground zero for the harrowing stories of women, including women who were denied care who had to leave the state and mothers who had to leave the state,” said Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward, an advocacy group behind many lawsuits challenging abortion restrictions. “This is one of the main places where this reality was felt so devastatingly.”

Democrats warn that the sifting of rights and freedoms will only continue if Trump is elected. Republican lawmakers across U.S. states, for example, are rejecting Democratic efforts to protect or expand access to birth control.

Democrats also hope Harris’ visit will strengthen the position of Republican Sen. Colin Allred, who is making a far-reaching attempt to unseat Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Allred will appear at the rally with Harris.

When Roe was first overturned, Democrats initially focused on new restrictions on access to abortion to end unwanted pregnancies. But the same medical procedures used to treat abortion are used to treat miscarriages.

Increasingly, in the 14 states with strict abortion bans, women cannot obtain medical care until their condition is life-threatening. In some states, doctors who provide medical care may face criminal charges.

ABOUT 6 out of 10 According to a July poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, Americans believe their state should generally allow legal abortion if for any reason one does not want to get pregnant.

Trump has been inconsistent in his message to voters about abortion and reproductive rights. He repeatedly changed his position and gave vague, contradictory and sometimes nonsensical answers to questions on an issue that became a major weakness for Republicans in this year’s election.

Texas captures the post-Roe landscape. The strict abortion ban prohibits doctors from performing abortions once heart activity is detected, which can occur as early as six weeks or earlier.

As a result, women, including those who did not intend to terminate their pregnancies, enjoy increasingly worse medical care. This is partly because doctors cannot intervene unless a woman has a life-threatening condition or to prevent “significant impairment of major bodily functions.”

The state has also become a battleground for legal disputes. Just two weeks ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a state ban.

Complaints from medically vulnerable pregnant women who were sent to emergency rooms in Texas and elsewhere have skyrocketed as hospitals grapple with whether standard care could violate strict state laws banning abortions.

Several Texas women have filed complaints against hospitals for not terminating their failed and dangerous pregnancies because of the state’s ban. In some cases, women lost their reproductive organs.

Recently, Republicans have increasingly tried to shift the blame onto doctors, claiming that doctors are deliberately refusing to provide services in an attempt to undermine the bans and make it political.

Perryman said it was gas lighting.

“Physicians find themselves facing the prospect of criminal and personal liability, threats to their medical license and their ability to care for people – they face an unsustainable situation,” she said.

---

Long reported from Washington and Lathan from Austin, Texas.