Roe v Wade decision | VP Kamala Harris visits NC, defends reproductive rights 1 year after landmark Supreme Court decision

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to North Carolina on the one year anniversary of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.

Harris is visiting Charlotte, where she will speak at the Grady Cole Center to rally supporters, advocates and community leaders to not give up on the fight for reproductive rights.

Harris is scheduled to speak at 12:30 p.m. You can watch her live in the video player above.

The Vice President is expected to call for national legislation to protect reproductive rights. Harris’ senior advisor told said Friday that the vice president wants women to know they’re not alone in this fight.

“North Carolina is on the front line of this issue,” said Stephanie Young. “The state legislature as you know just passed a dangerous abortion ban overriding Gov. Cooper’s veto and right now we have 23 million women of reproductive age living in states around this country with extreme abortion bans and this is one out of three American women, and North Carolina is now a part of this list.”

Gov. Cooper will be with Harris at the event Saturday.

In May, the Republican-controlled General Assembly passed legislation over Cooper’s veto that banned most abortions after 12 weeks.

The North Carolina Republican Party released a statement ahead of Harris’ visit saying, “Vice President Harris should know North Carolinians reject the extreme policies of this administration. In response to the end of Roe v Wade, North Carolina Republicans have passed reasonable restrictions on abortion well within the mainstream of public opinion on this critical issue.”

Her visit comes after President Joe Biden was in North Carolina. He was promoting the need for job creation and also visited the newly renamed Fort Liberty.

The state was also visited recently by numerous candidates vying for the Republican presidential nomination including former President Donald Trump, Mike Pence and Ron DeSantis. Those GOP leaders all spoke at a conservative convention held in Greensboro.

Statement from President Joe Biden on the Anniversary of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization

“One year ago today, the Supreme Court took away a constitutional right from the American people, denying women across the nation the right to choose. Overturning Roe v. Wade, which had been the law of the land for nearly half a century, has already had devastating consequences.
States have imposed extreme and dangerous abortion bans that put the health and lives of women in jeopardy, force women to travel hundreds of miles for care, and threaten to criminalize doctors for providing the health care that their patients need and that they are trained to provide.
Yet, state bans are just the beginning. Congressional Republicans want to ban abortion nationwide, but go beyond that, by taking FDA-approved medication for terminating a pregnancy, off the market, and make it harder to obtain contraception. Their agenda is extreme, dangerous, and out-of-step with the vast majority of Americans.
My Administration will continue to protect access to reproductive health care and call on Congress to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade in federal law once and for all.”