Harris says strict abortion laws lead to ‘predictable’ suffering for women

ATLANTA — Vice President Harris called former President Donald Trump the “architect” of a health care crisis caused by a rollback of access to abortion in various states following the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

Speaking in Atlanta Friday, Harris called tougher abortion laws “immoral” and slammed Republicans for what she called “longstanding neglect” around maternal mortality.

“These hypocrites want to start talking about, ‘This is in the best interest of women and children,’” she said. “Well, where’ve you been? … How dare they? How dare they? Come on.”

As Harris tries to capitalize on the abortion issue on the campaign trail, on Friday she referenced reporting from ProPublica about two Georgia women whose deaths, after the state’s new abortion law, were deemed “preventable” by a state committee of maternal health experts.

The investigations published this week tell the stories of two women, Amber Thurman and Candi Miller, who died from complications related to seeking abortions in the aftermath of Georgia’s strict law that effectively bans most abortions with exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother.

“There is a word — preventable — and there is another word: predictable,” Harris said. “And the reality is for every story here of the suffering under Trump abortion bans, there are so many of the stories we’re not hearing where suffering is happening every day in our country.”

Trump has touted his nomination of Supreme Court justices who helped overturn the constitutional right to abortion.

Thurman and Miller died from complications that arose after their bodies failed to fully expel all of the fetal tissue after medication abortions, according to records reviewed by ProPublica. Thurman died after doctors waited more than 20 hours to treat an infection; Miller died at home without seeking medical treatment “due to the current legislation on pregnancies and abortions,” her family told ProPublica. NPR has not independently confirmed the reporting.

Some anti-abortion groups have pushed back on the characterization of those deaths as tied to abortion laws, blaming the Biden administration’s looser regulations around medication abortion instead.

“Amber Thurman and Candi Miller did not die because a law denied treatment,” Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life, said in a statement. The group blamed the administration for lifting safety requirements when it eased access to medication abortion for the deaths, as well as a lack of sufficient medical treatment.

Republicans have also pushed back on Harris’ narrative around the women’s deaths, with a GOP spokesperson claiming the vice president is spreading “misinformation.”

“Georgia not only established clear exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother, but also included providing necessary care in the event of a medical emergency,” Republican National Committee spokesperson Morgan Ackley said in a statement. “There was no reason that doctors cannot act swiftly to protect the lives of mothers.”

Friday’s event comes as the presidential campaign enters its final six-week stretch, with Georgia as one of the swing states likely to decide the winner and as abortion rights continues to be a motivating issue for Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters.

Harris was introduced by Dr. Keisha Reddick, a Savannah OB-GYN who said that tighter abortion restrictions in Georgia and other states are “putting women’s health and lives in peril.”

“I see fear in my patients’ eyes,” she said. “I see women who have left the state to get the care that they need, and those who are unable to do so. I watch medical students and other physicians avoid coming to our state, who are packing up their lives to move across the country in pursuit of building a life where they won’t face jail time for upholding their oath.”

Reddick said that has left Georgia with fewer health care providers in a state that has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the country.

Harris also discussed abortion during a campaign event Thursday with Oprah Winfrey in Michigan. She will hold a campaign rally in Madison, Wis., later Friday.