Vice President Kamala Harris keeps full-court press on abortion rights in Phoenix stop

Vice President Kamala Harris made the case against former President Donald Trump on abortion rights Monday as she marked the second anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade.

The Monday event was Harris’ third Arizona trip focused on reproductive rights. It came days before the first presidential debate of the 2024 general election on Thursday.

Harris appeared with actor Francia Raisa and Arizona Corporation Commissioner Anna Tovar to discuss abortion rights in Latino communities.

The trio also touched on other issues including immigration and democracy.

"None of us can afford to passively sit by and watch this happen," Harris told the afternoon crowd of about 400 people at Warehouse215 in downtown Phoenix.

"Think about what this is meaning for real people every day. So that’s why we fight. That’s why we stand together and say we’re not having this,” Harris said to applause.

Harris also squarely took aim at Trump as the cause of the reproductive-rights turmoil.

"The former President Donald Trump hand-selected three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention that they would undo the protections of Roe v. Wade and they did as he intended," she said.

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The Trump campaign and national Republicans pushed back by calling President Joe Biden, Harris and the Democrats "radical extremists" on abortion.

"Just like Joe Biden, Kamala Harris is a radical extremist on abortion who continues to lie about President Trump’s position," said Halee Dobbins, the Republican National Committee's Arizona communications director. "The real policies harming women were created by the Biden-Harris agenda, and have led to skyrocketing crime, a fentanyl crisis, and are allowing illegal migrants to terrorize Arizonans. The Biden campaign has nothing to run on except fear mongering, but on Day 1, President Trump will undo the damage caused by the failing Biden-Harris administration."

The Biden administration is making a full court press on the issue of abortion rights in Arizona and across the country.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland made reproductive rights a focus when she campaigned in Flagstaff, Phoenix and Mesa on Friday and Saturday. Plus, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra last week visited the headquarters of Planned Parenthood Arizona to make the case for the Democratic president.

“No one has been a stronger champion for women's reproductive rights than our vice president,” Haaland told reporters in Mesa on Saturday. “I'm happy that she'll have an opportunity to be here and see all the energy that's happening on the ground in Arizona for Joe Biden, for women's rights, for everything that's on the ballot this time around.”

The vice president has so far held more than 85 events on abortion rights across the country, according to the Biden campaign.

Harris pointed to post-Dobbs abortion rights victories in other states such as Kansas, Ohio and Virginia.

"When freedom was on the ballot, the American people voted for freedom," Harris said. "This is not a partisan issue and doesn’t have to be a partisan issue. Momentum is on our side."

A proposition to enshrine abortion rights in the Arizona Constitution could make the Nov. 5 statewide ballot.

Arizona was thrown into chaos when the Supreme Court ruled on Dobbs vs. Jackson two years ago. Things became particularly contentious after the state’s highest court upheld an 1864 near-total abortion ban this spring. Lawmakers quickly repealed the law.

Biden narrowly carried Arizona in the 2020 presidential election but is expecting a tough battle this again this year against Trump, who won the state in 2016 over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Harris expressed optimism for the chances of Biden and U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Arizona.

"We are going to win. It won’t be easy, but we are going to win," Harris said.

"He is going to win and you are going to make it so,” Harris said of Gallego, who is expected to face Trump-endorsed Republican Kari Lake in the general election.

Top Arizona Democrats Gov. Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Kris Mayes did not appear with Harris, who arrived at 2:16 p.m. at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Harris exited Air Force Two at 2:26 p.m. No one was there to greet her. She walked straight off the plane to a waiting car.

Ahead of Harris' remarks on Monday, a series of other speakers hammered home the Biden-Harris ticket's points about the Dobbs decision.

State Rep. Analise Ortiz, D-Phoenix, said the decision has had a "devastating impact" on Arizona woman "and our fundamental freedoms."

“Because of Donald Trump we still have an extreme 15-week ban in effect here in Arizona,” Ortiz said. “This will not change unless we show up in November.”U.S. Sen. Laphonza Butler, D-Calif., urged Arizona women to demand more freedom.

"Let us go and fight for more freedom," said Butler, who on Tuesday is set to host a Senate Judiciary subcommittee field hearing in downtown Phoenix on state abortion laws since the Dobbs decision.

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Mesa Vice Mayor Francisco Heredia said men also are affected.

"If Donald Trump wants to take any more freedoms away from my daughter and the women of Arizona … you’ll have to come through the men of Arizona first," he said.

After the event, attendees said they appreciate that Harris has been active in Arizona as the presidential election draws closer.

“I appreciate her attention to the community and really understanding that it matters. It matters what we do as community members, it matters that we vote. It matters that we understand the trajectory of our country,” said Anna Battle, a Phoenix resident who attended the vice president’s campaign event. “Arizona is going to make a difference.”

Republic reporter Vivian Barrett contributed to this story.

Stephanie Murray covers national politics for The Arizona Republic. Follow her on X, the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter, at @stephanie_murr.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kamala Harris campaigns on abortion rights, against Trump in Phoenix