Read here the full transcript of VP Kamala Harris’ speech on abortion rights in Georgia event on Friday, September 20, 2024.
Listen to the audio version here:
TRANSCRIPT:
DR. KEISHA REDDICK: Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Dr. Keisha Reddick. I’m an OB-GYN here in Georgia, and I specialize in high-risk obstetrics.
I speak to you today with a heavy heart. As you know, earlier this week, we received news reports about two preventable deaths in Georgian women under the state’s cruel abortion bans. These reports confirm what we already knew, that abortion bans unleashed by Donald Trump are putting women’s health and lives in peril. Take it from me, every day I care for patients in Georgia under this extreme ban.
The Impact of Abortion Bans
I see fear in my patients’ eyes. I see women who have left the state to get the care that they need, and those who are unable to do so. I watch medical students and other physicians avoid coming to our state or packing up their lives to move across the country in pursuit of building a life where they won’t face jail time for upholding their oath. But back here in Georgia, we are left with fewer health care providers in a state facing the worst maternal mortality rates in the country.
Callie’s Story
One of my patients, who’s given me permission to discuss her, Callie, was forced to leave our state to get the health care that she needed. She recently shared her story as a part of the Harris-Waltz Fighting for Reproductive Freedom bus in Georgia two weeks ago. She introduces herself as an artist, a follower of Christ, and a dedicated mother. Last year, she was thrilled to find out that she was pregnant with twins, but testing revealed that one of her twins would not survive.
She received counseling from multiple physicians and was ultimately left with the decision to terminate one of her twins so that the other viable one could survive.
Personal Reflection
I became a doctor to take care of people, to support women through their pregnancies, to save lives, but laws like the Georgia abortion ban are designed to handcuff me. Because of Donald Trump and his allies, I am forced to weigh the risk of going to prison against my own oath to take care of patients. I have two daughters. My oldest daughter is here today.
Neither one of them is going to have the same rights that I did growing up. But she has hope. Why? Because she has Vice President Kamala Harris.
Vice President Harris’s Commitment
Vice President Harris has been fighting her whole career to protect women. She stood up for the rights of women and girls as a prosecutor, as an attorney general, as a senator, and as the Vice President. Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, she has been leading the charge to restore reproductive freedom.
She has traveled across the country to lift up the voices of patients, medical providers, and advocates. She’s listened to our stories. And she’s made sure that the country is listening, too. She is the first sitting Vice President in history to visit a reproductive health clinic.
And as President, she will sign a bill to restore those rights. No one is more committed to reproductive freedom than Vice President Harris. I wish I could say the same for Donald Trump. He thinks that he knows better than medical professionals like me.
Call to Action
And if given a second term, he will go even further to attack our reproductive freedom. That is why we must do everything to elect Vice President Harris and Tim Walz. Lives depend on it. I am grateful to be here with you all today to shed light on this health care crisis in our state and in the states across our country.
And I’m truly honored to introduce to you our next president and true champion in this fight, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Vice President Harris’s Speech
VP KAMALA HARRIS: Can we please hear it for Dr. Reddick, please? Please have a seat, everyone. Please have a seat. It’s so good to be back in Atlanta. Thank you.
I just want to say about Dr. Reddick, some of you may have seen, I did an event last night with Oprah Winfrey. It highlighted so many tragic stories, but it also highlighted so many important issues, which is why everyone is taking time out of your busy lives to be here this afternoon. And it highlighted the importance of a Dr. Reddick.
Because the courage, Dr. Reddick, that you are showing in the face of these arcane and immoral laws to stand so publicly and talk about your commitment to your oath and to the health and well-being of people who need to be seen and treated with dignity is so extraordinary. And I do believe in moments of crisis, the world has a way of revealing the heroes among us. And I would say, Dr. Reddick, you are one of them. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. And thank you to all of the elected and community leaders who have joined us today. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Everybody who is here.
The Fight for Freedom
So, Georgia, this election right here is a fight for the future. It is a fight for the future. And it is a fight for freedom. For freedom. And we know, in America, freedom is not to be given. It is not to be bestowed. It is ours by right. It is ours by right. And that includes the fundamental freedom of a woman to be able to make decisions about her own body and not have her government telling her what to do. Yes, we must trust women.
And we all know how we got here. When Donald Trump was president, he hand-selected three members of the United States Supreme Court, the court of Thurgood and RBG, with the intention that they would overturn the protections of Roe v. Wade. And as he intended, they did.
The Impact of Trump Abortion Bans
And now more than 20 states have Trump abortion bans. Extremists that have passed laws that criminalize health care providers, doctors and nurses, and punish women. In two states of those states, they provide for prisons for life. Prisons for life. For health care providers. For simply providing reproductive care. The care they so earnestly and rightly believe must be delivered. All Trump abortion bans.
And think about this. Many of these bans make no exception even for rape and incest. Now many of you know I started my career as a prosecutor, specializing in crimes of violence against women and children. What many of you may not know is why.
Personal Experience
So when I was in high school, my best friend, I learned, was being molested by her stepfather. And I said to her, look, you’ve got to come and stay with us. I called my mother. She said, of course she does. And she came and she stayed with us. And so I made the decision early in my life that I wanted to do the work that was about protecting the most vulnerable among us. And doing the work that was about giving them dignity in the process.
And so, well, thank everybody here for being here and standing in solidarity around the importance of that. And so I say to you then from that experience and from the work that I’ve done, the idea that someone who survives a crime of violence to their body, a violation of their body, would not have the right to make a decision about what happens to their body next? That’s immoral. That’s immoral.
The Role of Government and Faith
And let us agree, and I know we do, one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree. The government should not be telling her what to do. If she chooses, if she chooses, she will talk with her pastor, her priest, her rabbi, her imam. But it should not be the government or Donald Trump telling her what to do with her body.
And think about it. The stories that Dr. Reddick shares with us, the stories we heard last night, the stories we’ve been hearing for two years, one in three women in America lives in a state with a Trump abortion ban. This includes Georgia and every state in the South except Virginia. Think about that when you also combine that with what we know has been longstanding neglect around an issue like maternal mortality.
Criticism of Hypocrisy
Think about that when you compound that with what has been longstanding neglect of women in communities with a lack of the adequate resources they need for health care, prenatal, during their pregnancy, postpartum. Think about that. And these hypocrites want to start talking about this is in the best interest of women and children. Well, where have you been? Where have you been when it comes to taking care of the women and children of America? Where have you been? How dare they? How dare they?
Come on. And we understand the impact of these bans and the horrific reality that women and families, their husbands, their partners, their parents, their children are facing as a consequence every single day.
Real-Life Consequences
Since Roe was overturned, I have met women who were refused care during a miscarriage, wanted to have a child, suffering a miscarriage. I met a woman, I’ve actually met several, who were turned away from the emergency room. One at early stages after the Dobbs decision came down told me with tears, she was with her husband, about how only when she developed sepsis did she receive emergency care. Only when she developed sepsis did she receive emergency care.
And now we know that at least two women, and those are only the stories we know, here in the state of Georgia, died, died, because of a Trump abortion ban.
Amber Nicole Thurman’s Story
One, and we heard about her story last night, a vibrant 28-year-old young woman, she was ambitious, you know, I talked with her mother and her sisters about her, and they described such an extraordinary life of a person. She was excited, she was working hard. She was a medical assistant, she was going to nursing school, raising her six-year-old son. She was really proud that she had finally worked so hard that she gained independence. Her family was telling me 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. Amber Nicole Thurman. That’s right. And she had her future all planned out. And it was her plan. You know, let’s understand, just take pause on that for a moment.
She had her plan, which she wanted to do for her son, for herself, for their future. And so when she discovered that she was pregnant, she decided she wanted to have an abortion. But because of the Trump abortion ban here in Georgia, she was forced to travel out of state to receive the healthcare that she needed. But when she returned to Georgia, she needed additional care.
So she went to a hospital. But you see, under the Trump abortion ban, her doctors could have faced up to a decade in prison for providing Amber the care she needed. Understand what a law like this means. Doctors have to wait until the patient is at death’s door before they take action.
You know, on the other side of my, you know, the other folks, Trump and his running mate, and they’ll talk about, “Oh, yeah, but I, you know, I do believe in the exception to save the mother’s life.” Okay. All right. Let’s break that down, shall we?
Breaking Down the Policy
Let’s break that down. Let’s break that down. So we’re saying that we’re going to create public policy that says that a doctor, a healthcare provider, will only kick in to give the care that somebody needs if they’re about to die? Think about what we are saying right now.
You’re saying that good policy, logical policy, moral policy, humane policy, is about saying that a healthcare provider will only start providing that care when you’re about to die? And so Amber waited 20 hours, 20 hours, excruciating hours, until finally she was in enough physical distress that her doctors thought they would be okay to treat her. But it was too late. She died of sepsis.
And her last words to her mother, which her mother, as you know, tears up and cries every time she speaks it, last words to her mother, “Promise me you’ll take care of my son.” So I met last night and I spent time with Amber’s mother and her sisters and they spoke about Amber, a daughter, a sister, a mother. With the deep love that you can imagine and how terribly they miss her. And their pain is heartbreaking.
The Preventable Tragedy
It’s heartbreaking. Amber’s mother, Sinead, told me that the word “preventable” is over and over again in her head when she learned about how her child died. The word preventable. She cannot, she can’t stop thinking about the word that they spoke to her.
It was preventable. Because you see, medical experts have now determined that Amber’s death was preventable. And through the pain and the grief of her mother, who courageously told her story, I promise her, as she has asked, that we will make sure Amber is not just remembered as a statistic. That she will not just be remembered as a statistic.
So that people will know she was a mother and a daughter and a sister and that she was loved. And that she should be alive today. And many of us remember, there’s so many leaders here, from two years ago when the Dobbs decision came down. We knew this could happen.
There is a word “preventable” and there is another word, “predictable”. And the reality is, for every story we hear of the suffering under Trump abortion ban, there are so many other stories we’re not hearing. But where suffering is happening every day in our country. An untold number of people suffering.
The Impact on Women
Women who are in the hospital, who are in the hospital, who are in the hospital, who are in the hospital. An untold number of people suffering. Women who are also being made to feel as though they did something wrong. The judgment factor here is outrageous.
Being made to feel as though they are criminals. As though they are alone. So to those women, to those families, I say on behalf of what I believe we all say, we see you and you are not alone and we are all here standing with you. Standing with you.
You are not alone. You are not alone. So Georgians, and we will not be silent, and we will not be silent, but this is a health care crisis. This is a health care crisis and Donald Trump is the architect of this crisis.
Trump’s Stance on Abortion
He brags about overturning Roe v. Wade. In his own words, quote, “I did it and I’m proud to have done it,” he said. He is proud. Proud that women are dying. Proud that doctors and nurses could be thrown in prison for administering care. Proud that young women today have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers. How dare he?
How dare he? And in our debate last week. Well that was fun. But, and I know everyone here paid attention to the words though, the words, right? I’m trying to get another debate, we’ll see. But in our debate last week, remember when he said, everyone wanted Roe v. Wade to be overturned. Well, exactly.
I don’t know who “everyone” is either. Women have been arrested and charged for miscarriages, they didn’t want that. I was speaking with a physician who is here, who has in her professional experience been administering care to girls. And what we know is that 12 and 13 year old survivors of assault are being forced to carry a pregnancy to term.
They didn’t want this. And couples just trying to grow their family being cut off in the middle of IVF treatments, they didn’t want this. And on that last point, you probably saw, this week for the second time, Republicans in the United States Senate blocked a bill that would protect access to IVF treatment.
The Irony of Extremist Policies
Now consider, among the multitude of ironies, the fact that on the one hand, these extremists want to tell women they don’t have the freedom to end an unwanted pregnancy. And on the other hand, these extremists are telling women and their partners they don’t have the freedom to start a family. Okay. And they want to restrict access to contraception as well.
And now Donald Trump says that he would personally cast his vote in Florida, which is where he now lives, to support their extreme abortion ban, just like the one that is here in Georgia. We’re on the same boat. Well, that’s a whole different policy discussion that we’ll have for another day.
But let’s understand, if he is elected again as president, Donald Trump will go further. But we know what we’re up against, and we must speak of the stakes.
The Stakes of the Election
We must remind, everybody here knows, but we’ve got to remind our friends, our neighbors, our co-workers, the stakes are so high. Because if he is elected again, I am certain he will sign a national abortion ban, which would outlaw abortion in every single state. And he would create a national anti-abortion coordinator. Look at Project 2025. And force states to report on women’s miscarriages and abortions. It’s right there. I can’t believe they put that Project 2025 in writing. They literally put it in writing, they bound it, they handed it out.
I mean, they are simply out of their mind. And it’s clear that they just don’t trust women. Well, we trust women. And like Dr. Reddick said, when Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedoms as president of the United States, I will so proudly sign it into law. I will so proudly sign it into law. Proudly sign it into law.
The Final Stretch
So, 46 days to go. And let us remember that momentum on this and so many issues, momentum is on our side. And let’s remember, since Roe was overturned, every time reproductive freedom has been on the ballot, from Kansas to California to Kentucky, in Michigan, Montana, Vermont, and Ohio, the people of America have voted for freedom. The people of America have voted for freedom. Not just by a little, but by overwhelming margins, from so-called red states to so-called blue states.
Providing and making clear also, this is not a partisan issue. This is not a partisan issue. And it is proving that the voice of the people has been heard and will be heard again. And will be heard again.
Call to Action
So, 46 days to go in probably the most consequential election of our lifetime. And with that then, today I ask, Georgia, are you ready to make your voices heard? Do we trust women? Do we believe in reproductive freedom?
Do we believe in the promise of America? And are we ready to fight for it? And when we fight, we win! God bless you.
Thank you.
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