The Supreme Court’s decision, according to Vice President Kamala Harris, was an instance of the American government “seeking to claim ownership over human beings,” and she compared the repeal of Roe v. Wade to slavery.
At the Essence Festival in New Orleans on Saturday, Harris drew the analogy.
She told the audience, “We have to acknowledge that we are a nation that was built on certain ideas that are — that are grounded in the concept of freedom and liberty.”
We are also aware of the government’s past attempts to seize control of human bodies in our nation. And it was said that since that period and that style of thinking, we had developed. Thus, this is extremely problematic on a number of levels.
Although Harris did not specifically mention slavery, it is commonly assumed that she was alluding to the country’s dark history of buying and selling black people.
She spoke eight days after the Supreme Court reversed a historic decision from 1973 that had for nearly 50 years ensured universal access to abortion.
At least 26 states are currently preparing to enact partial or outright restrictions on abortion, while Democrat-run regions are offering to serve as “sanctuaries” where women from states with bans can travel and get free abortions.
On June 24, the Supreme Court decided 6-3 to overturn a precedent-setting decision that had been upheld for almost 50 years and allowed abortions throughout the first two trimesters of pregnancy in the country.
States are now able to regulate or outlaw abortions.
Florida, Indiana, Montana, Nebraska, Georgia, Iowa, and South Carolina are among the states that have already moved forward with their intentions to do so, while officials in other states are working to restore the right to the treatment.
During a fireside chat with actress Keke Palmer at the festival, Harris said to the crowd, “This is a serious subject.”
And it calls on each of us to speak up, to act, and to speak up, she continued.
The Vice President criticized the court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in a speech delivered last Friday, just after the decision was made.
Harris informed the audience, “Millions of women in America will go to bed tonight without access to the healthcare and reproductive care they had this morning.”
Without having access to the reproductive or medical care that their moms and grandmothers received for 50 years.
She continued, “Today’s ruling on that principle brings into doubt other rights that we thought were secured, like same-sex marriage and interracial marriage.