Harris: 'We are not playing around' on abortion rights

Vice President Harris on Tuesday rallied supporters at a gathering for a historically Black sorority, drawing roars from the crowd when she pledged to codify abortion protections "when I am president."

Harris was in Indianapolis for Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.’s Grand Boulé, a major gathering for the sorority, which is part of the Divine Nine historically Black fraternities and sororities. The vice president delivered remarks that closely resembled the speech she has given since she became the likely Democratic nominee in place of President Biden, putting a particular emphasis on protecting freedoms like the right to vote and reproductive rights.

"Across our nation we are witnessing a full-on assault on hard-fought, hard-won freedoms and rights," she said. "The freedom to vote. The freedom to be safe from gun violence ... The freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own body and not have her government telling her what to do."

Harris argued people do not have to abandon their faith to agree that women should not be told what to do with their bodies by the government. And she sought to directly connect former President Trump with the erosion of abortion rights across the country.

"When he was president, Donald Trump, former president, handpicked three members of the U.S. Supreme Court because he intended for them to overturn Roe v. Wade," she said. "And as he intended, they did."

"Well let me tell you something, when I am president of the United States, and when Congress passes a law to restore those freedoms, I will sign it into law," Harris said to applause. "We are not playing around."

Harris has been the face of the White House's messaging on protecting abortion access following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and she is likely to make that central to her campaign for the presidency in the hopes of driving turnout among Democrats.

Trump has repeatedly bragged about appointing the justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, but he has also been adamant that individual states should be left to decide how to implement laws on abortion. That resulting patchwork has led to some states enshrining abortion rights while others, like Florida and Texas, have passed near-total bans on the procedure.