SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
In the presidential campaign, Vice President Harris is increasingly leaning into reproductive freedom as a key theme in rallies and in ads. Harris campaigned in Georgia on Friday with a speech fully focused on abortion access, as well as the consequences of abortion bans now in place in nearly two dozen states. NPR senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith was there and joins us now. Hey, Tam.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Hi.
DETROW: So Georgia, obviously a key swing state this year. It is also a state that put in place new abortion restrictions after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Tell us more about why Harris chose to go there this week.
KEITH: Yeah, this was a late addition to her schedule, added because ProPublica ran a story earlier this week about a Georgia mother named Amber Thurman. She had left Georgia to get an abortion because of the restrictions there and was prescribed medication to end her pregnancy. But then after returning home, Thurman experienced complications and she needed a common procedure. But the doctors waited too long to do it and she ended up dying. The procedure is banned in Georgia unless the life of the mother is at risk. And ProPublica reported that a Georgia state medical board has reviewed her death and determined that it could have been prevented. NPR hasn't independently confirmed this reporting, but Harris was in Georgia to say Thurman's name and to bring attention to this story.
DETROW: Connect for us how that event, focusing on that story, fits with the broader campaign messaging that we're seeing from Harris on this topic.
KEITH: She's been delivering this message with urgency really ever since the Supreme Court decision two years ago removed protections for abortion access and threw it to the states. She says women are suffering and even dying unnecessarily because of these state bans, which she calls in her speeches Trump abortion bans. Yesterday, she described this as a health care crisis of former President Donald Trump's creation because he appointed those justices who made it possible to overturn Roe.
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VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: He brags about overturning Roe v. Wade. In his own words, quote, "I did it and I'm proud to have done it," he says. He is proud, proud that women are dying, proud that doctors and nurses could be thrown in prison for administering care.
KEITH: Earlier in the week at an event with Oprah Winfrey, Harris actually met with Thurman's mother and sisters. And it may well have been one of the most emotional moments of this whole campaign.
DETROW: Yeah. Let's talk about the Republican side. What is former President Trump's position on this, and also, how are antiabortion groups responding to this push from Harris?
KEITH: Yeah, those groups responded aggressively this week, saying that Thurman didn't die because of Georgia's abortion ban. They say medication abortion is now just too readily available and that it's putting women at risk. They also blamed Thurman's doctors. At his rally today in North Carolina, Trump said he supports exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. And he made this claim about what would happen if he's elected again.
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DONALD TRUMP: Women will be happy, healthy, confident and free. You will no longer be thinking about abortion because it is now where it always had to be, with the states and with the vote of the people.
KEITH: To be clear, since that Supreme Court decision two years ago, abortion has become a much bigger campaign issue than it has been in decades. And polling shows a majority of Americans oppose these restrictive bans.
DETROW: NPR's Tamara Keith. Thanks so much.
KEITH: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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