In tonight’s Democratic Debate, California Sen. Kamala Harris erupted the conversation with an important point: Reproductive health has gotten almost no air time. While New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (who is no longer running for president) inserted a few strong points on reproductive health and women’s equality in earlier debates, the issue has gotten notably little discussion time overall.
Harris is ready to change that. And New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker quickly backed her up. Both clips are embedded at the bottom of this article, but let’s breakdown some of the finer moments first.
“This is the sixth debate we have had in this presidential cycle and not nearly one word,” Harris stated as the candidates had a lengthy discussion on healthcare and how to pay for it, “with all of these discussions about health care, on women's access to reproductive health care, which is under full on attack in America."
The audience gave enormous applause to this statement. Harris followed up by noting that there are states (like Georgia and Alabama) that have passed laws which, basically, prevent pregnant people from accessing abortion… in spite of it being a safe, legal medical procedure.
“It is not an exaggeration to say,” she continued. “Women will die. Poor women will die. Women of color will die. “ She’s right: This isn’t an exaggeration. While extreme bans on abortion impact everyone, low-income people and people of color (and of course, those in that intersection) will suffer the most. It’s hard enough as it is, for example, to pay for the cost of the procedure, take time off of work, or even travel across the state to get one. Further restrictions on length of pregnancy only make accessing that healthcare all the harder.
After pointing out that women are the majority of people in America, Harris said, “people need to keep their hands off of women’s bodies and let women make the decision about their own lives.”
Booker quickly followed up with support.
“God bless Kamala Harris,” he began, “but you know what? Women should not be the only ones taking up this cause and this fight. And men, it’s not just because women are our daughters, our friends, and our wives. It’s because women are people and people deserve to control their own bodies.”
Note: While the language in tonight’s debate referred to pregnant people as exclusively women, people of all gender identities can become pregnant.
Now, here are clips of both of those amazing moments.