VP Harris visits Planned Parenthood, says people don't need to 'abandon their faith' to back abortion access

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Vice President Harris said that Americans need not "abandon their faith" to support access to abortion during a tour of a Minnesota Planned Parenthood clinic on Thursday.

"One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree that the government should not be telling women what to do with their body," Harris said during remarks following a tour of the clinic.

"If she chooses, she will consult with her priest, her pastor, rabbi, her imam. But is that for the government to tell her what she can and cannot do with her own body?"

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Vice President Harris tours an abortion clinic, highlighting abortion as a key election issue ahead of 2024. (STEPHEN MATUREN/AFP via Getty Images)

Harris is the first sitting vice president to visit an abortion facility. She said her trip to the Planned Parenthood clinic was meant in part to draw attention to women who travel from other states to Minnesota to obtain an abortion.

"The work that happens here is about providing assistance to women who do not live in the state of Minnesota, because, sadly, this state exists in a neighborhood where laws have been passed to deny people reproductive health care. And so women have to travel here," Harrris said.

Harris, whose campaign has been pushing for more widespread abortion access, went on to say that "attacks against an individual's right to make decisions about their own body are outrageous, and in many instances, just plain immoral."

After Harris' comments, pro-life nonprofit group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America slammed the VP for going on an "abortion fearmongering tour."

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Planned Parenthood. (Getty Images)

"Kamala Harris has spent her whole career in the pocket of Big Abortion," SBA Pro-Life America president Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement.

"It couldn’t be clearer who is aligned with the overwhelming majority of Americans who support pregnancy centers and want fewer abortions, not more," she said. "They are extreme and wildly out of step with America."

Sarah Traxler, chief medical officer at Planned Parenthood, told reporters following Harris' visit that Planned Parenthood has seen a 25% increase in abortion procedures since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022. 

Roe v. Wade was a landmark 1973 federal decision that legalized abortion nationwide. Abortion is currently outlawed in more than a dozen states and restricted in more than 10.

"I am a proud abortion provider," Traxler said. "After the Dobbs decision a year and a half ago, Minnesota has become a bastion of access for abortion care."

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North Dakota's previous restrictions on abortion were challenged in court by what was formerly the state's only abortion clinic. Pictured is an abortion clinic in Idaho. (Darin Oswald/Idaho Statesman/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

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"I've cared for patients from everywhere," she added. 

Last year, Minnesota moved to fortify its status as a refuge for patients from restrictive states who travel to the state to seek abortions — and to protect providers who serve them. Maine is currently considering a similar bill.

In January, Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed a fast-tracked bill to codify the state's abortion rights.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.