Vice President Kamala Harris has long made the Democratic Party’s support for abortion a defining issue in her presidential campaign.
But her remarks during an interview Tuesday have pro-life groups raising the alarm that she wants to force medical professionals to perform abortions regardless of their own beliefs. And the word is already going out.
NBC: What reproductive rights concessions would be on the table to get Republican votes? Religious exemptions?
KAMALA HARRIS: I don’t think we should be making concessions when we are talking about a fundamental freedom to make decisions about your own body pic.twitter.com/wAPzWBk5IL
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 22, 2024
“This means that all Christian hospitals, healthcare providers, businesses, etc., would be forced to provide/cover abortion if she got her way,” the Center for Baptist Leadership declared in a post on the social media platform X.
“It would be the end of the First Amendment and religious liberty as we know it.”
While the Harris interview with NBC News anchor Hallie Jackson did not get into specific proposals, Jackson repeatedly asked Harris if she would accept any kind of “exemption” for religious groups to make her proposed national abortion legislation more palatable to less radically pro-abortion lawmakers, such as Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine.
Harris’ response was a resounding “no.”
She cited the Supreme Court’s historic Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
“Let’s just start with a fundamental fact, a basic freedom has been taken from the women of America: the freedom to make decisions about their own body,” Harris said.
“And that cannot be negotiable, which is that we need to put back in the protections of Roe v. Wade. And that is it.”
National Review described the position as “effectively forcing health-care providers to perform the medical procedure in violation of their moral conscience.”
Many commenters on X agreed.
Kamala Harris: No religious exemptions for abortion—thereby gutting the legal privilege of religious exemption itself, and furthering the erosion of religious freedom. https://t.co/WtGs3vQLKd
— Father V (@father_rmv) October 22, 2024
Again, it’s rather chilling that the ONLY time Kamala Harris speaks in a clear and principled manner is when she’s talking about abortion, including the idea of forcing believers to take part in the destruction of innocent life. https://t.co/aYSzHeFBmd
— Haunts Fiene 🦬 (@HansFiene) October 23, 2024
Harris has drawn the battle lines when it comes to abortion — she will not accept any compromise to the unfettered “right” of a woman to destroy a human life inside her.
As she made clear in the Jackson interview, she’s not even interested in discussing the matter. Her only “solution” is a national law guaranteeing abortion and restoring Roe v. Wade.
Former President Donald Trump, by contrast, maintains it’s an issue for individual states to decide — a stance that is unpopular among pro-lifers.
Americans will see after Nov. 5 which vision will prevail.
