Kamala Harris’ Abortion Speech Broke New Ground

The vice president talked about abortion as a normal part of life

In a speech channeling the anger of millions of American women, Vice President Kamala Harris laid into Republicans and Donald Trump today, blaming them for our post-Roe nightmare and the deaths of two Georgia women. Blasting what she called “arcane and immoral laws,” Harris called the November election not just a fight for the future of the country, but “a fight for freedom.”

But this wasn’t just any old campaign speech about abortion. Her remarks came on the heels of an event with Oprah, where Amber Nicole Thurman’s family spoke about her life and death, begging Americans to not see her a statistic. Harris speech today seemed determined to keep that promise—shining a light on who Thurman was, and why her life mattered so much.

More than that, Harris said something in her remarks that no one running for president ever has: She spoke about abortion as a normal part of a person’s life. Not a tragedy or an impossible choice, but a decision a young woman made in service of the life she wanted for herself.

“She was excited, she was working hard. She was a medical assistant. She was going to nursing school, raising her 6 year-old son. She was really proud that she had finally worked so hard that she gained the independence…that she was able to get an apartment in a gated community with a pool for her son to play in. She was so proud, and she was headed to nursing school. And her name, and we will speak her name: Amber Nicole Thurman. Amber Nicole Thurman. And she had her future all planned out. And it was her plan. You know, pause on that for a moment. She had her plan. What she wanted to do. For her son, for herself, for her future. And so when she discovered she was pregnant, she decided she wanted to have an abortion.”

This may seem like a small thing, but it’s actually quite remarkable. Too often, the abortion stories that politicians feel comfortable sharing are those that were medical necessities or the result of a tragic diagnosis. But here, Harris spoke plainly about the most common kind of abortion—one that’s done simply because a woman doesn’t want to be pregnant anymore. Because it doesn’t fit in with what she wants, or has planned for her life.

That kind of abortion is as moral and important as any other, and Harris spoke about it as such. There’s no overstating how important that is. In a moment when anti-abortion activists and legislators are creating a hierarchy of good and bad abortions, good and bad women—those deserving of care, and those who aren’t—Harris threw that standard out the window.

By refusing to play into Republicans’ noxious dichotomy—speaking with disdain about Trump and his insistence that he believes in ‘exceptions’ for women’s lives—Harris reminded Americans of something obvious that misogyny has long shrouded: The punishment for wanting to set your own course in life should not be death.

In response to Harris’ speech, Trump’s campaign insisted that the disgraced former president has “has always supported exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother.” That kind of statement has always rung hollow, but even more so today. Because Trump thinks women will accept the bare minimum—a government that allows us, maybe just maybe, to live. But as Kamala Harris’ speech made clear, we’re not willing to be ‘exceptions.’ Not anymore.

Like all of us, Amber Nicole Thurman had a plan and a life that she wanted for herself. But Georgia’s law stole both.