JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — In front of a packed crowd in Downtown Jacksonville, Vice President Kamala Harris pushed for protecting reproductive rights, calling Florida's 6-week abortion ban "extremist" and said the right to abortion was on the ballot in November.
At the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center on Wednesday afternoon, Harris took shots at the 6-week abortion ban and said an election win for Donald Trump would greatly damage Americans' reproductive rights.
Harris said it is a fight for freedom for a person's body and called the assault on abortion rights "extremist." She chided the Supreme Court for overturning Roe v. Wade and called Donald Trump the "architect."
"Former President Donald Trump did this," Harris said.
She said four million women in Florida woke up with fewer rights than they had Tuesday.
Harris derided the ban for its tough sentences for doctors providing care after six weeks. She said the ban largely applies before women know they are pregnant.
"Which by the way tells us, the extremists who wrote this ban either don't know how a woman's body works, or they simply don't care," said Harris.
Some members of the crowd yelled, "they don't care."
Harris further criticized the closure of clinics across the country in states with a ban, which could lead to the loss of other crucial services.
"'Clinics that provide breast cancer screenings, contraceptive care, paps, lifesaving care," said Harris.
Harris warned of a national abortion ban.
Trump said he would sign a national 20-week ban in 2018 if it reached his desk. It never did. Trump said recently abortion rights belong to the states.
"We believe the government should never come before a woman and her doctor," Harris said. "Enough with the gaslighting ..we know if Trump gets the chance he will try to sign a national abortion ban."
Florida voters will vote on an amendment in November that could protect abortion rights in the state.
In a statement, the Republican Party of Duval County issued the following statement:
"The Vice President is in Jacksonville today - not to discuss the Biden Border Crisis or the soaring cost of living due to Bidenomics - but to push an extreme pro-abortion agenda.
Harris wants to make Florida's abortion laws in line with her home state of California by pushing Amendment 4! This amendment would change Florida's constitution to allow abortion past 24 weeks and even up until birth!
Further, this extreme amendment would eliminate Florida's Parental Consent Law and chip away at parental rights.
Democrats know that the past four years of the Biden Administration have been a failure for Floridians and the American People. This desperate attempt to rally their base through far-left issues will fail at the ballot box. Now is the time to get involved."