In a significant political move, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will join forces in Virginia on Tuesday to rally voters. The duo aims to highlight the potential implications for reproductive rights in the upcoming 2024 presidential election, marking the first such election since the Supreme Court’s controversial decision to overturn the federal constitutional right to abortion.
This rally is the first joint campaign trail event for the president and vice president in 2024. The event, scheduled a day after the 51st anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, will see the president, vice president, and their spouses emphasizing the potential threats to reproductive freedom in 2024. These threats include a potential national abortion ban led by a MAGA Republican, according to a campaign announcement.
President Biden will be introduced by Amanda Zurawski, a Texas woman who claims her life was endangered after being denied an abortion in her home state. The Biden campaign is betting on abortion rights as a key issue that will motivate voters to oppose the GOP nominee in the November election.
A recent CNN Poll conducted by SSRS revealed that nearly two-thirds of Americans disagreed with the 2022 decision to overturn Roe. The Biden campaign has also been focusing on former President Donald Trump’s recent comments where he took credit for the decision that overturned Roe.
Meanwhile, Vice President Harris, the administration’s lead on abortion rights, initiated a “reproductive freedoms tour” this week, starting with a Monday stop in Wisconsin. She plans to travel nationwide, hosting numerous events and engaging with thousands of people, as per her office.
In her speech in Wisconsin, Harris emphasized the inherent right to freedom, including the freedom to make decisions about one’s own body without interference. She criticized the former president for his role in appointing three conservative justices to the Supreme Court, which likely led to the elimination of Roe.
The campaign has started airing ads in battleground states this week, featuring a Texas woman’s emotional account of having to travel out of state to seek an abortion due to a state law banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
Julie Chavez Rodriguez, the Biden campaign manager, stated, “In 2024, a vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris is a vote to restore Roe, and a vote for Donald Trump is a vote to ban abortion across the country.”
Contributions to this report were made by CNN’s MJ Lee, Arlette Saenz, and Nikki Carvajal.