Where do Kamala Harris and Tim Walz stand on abortion? DNC shines spotlight on policy

Democrats hope to make reproductive rights a central issue of the 2024 campaign

Democrats are making abortion a top issue in the 2024 election as they try to win over voters who believe the Supreme Court overstepped when it overturned Roe v Wade.

Former president Donald Trump has shared his concern that the issue could be a vote-loser for the Republicans even as he picked a staunch abortion opponent to be his running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance.

President Joe Biden dropping out and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris at the top of the Democratic ticket has completely changed the race, particularly when it comes to abortion.

Here’s where Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, stand on the issue of reproductive rights.

Kamala Harris

The vice president is backing legislation that would protect reproductive rights across the US as Roe v Wade did before the 1973 Supreme Court ruling was overturned in summer 2022.

After the ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, she quickly became the Biden administration’s top spokesperson on the issue of abortion.

She visited an abortion clinic in March, believed to be the first such visit by a president or vice president, according to The New York Times.

Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris (L) speaks as her running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz looks on during a campaign bus tour in Rochester, Pennsylvania, on August 18. Both are strong supporters of abortion rights (AFP via Getty Images)

As a senator, she co-sponsored legislation that, if passed, would have banned often-used restrictions on the state level.

In 2019, when she ran for president, she said that states that have imposed abortion restrictions in violation of Roe, which was the law of the land at the time, should have to pass what is called pre-clearance for new laws governing abortion, meaning they would have to be federally approved, a proposal which ceased to be a possibility with the overturning of Roe.

Harris supports restoring Roe, the law which protected abortion until fetal viability around 22 weeks.

In an interview with Face the Nation on CBS in September 2023, Harris said: “I am being precise. We need to put into law the protections of Roe v Wade. And that is about going back to where we were before the Dobbs decision.”

“We, who believe in reproductive freedom, will stop Donald Trump’s extreme abortion bans because we trust women to make decisions about their own bodies and not have their government telling them what to do,” Harris said in Massachusetts last month, according to Politico. “If there are those who dare to take the freedom to make such a fundamental decision for an individual, which is about one’s own body, what other freedoms could be on the table for the taking?”

Tim Walz

The Minnesota governor has expanded reproductive rights in his state, signing a law that codifies abortion rights and other kinds of reproductive healthcare following the overturning of Roe.

He also put in place legislation to protect abortion providers and patients from legal action started in states that have banned abortion. Walz repealed essentially all of Minnesota’s restrictions on the practice, such as parental consent and a 24-hour waiting period.

During the rally in Philadelphia introducing Walz as her running mate, Harris praised the governor for being the first in the country to “sign a new law that enshrined reproductive freedom as a fundamental right” following Dobbs.

She added that she would put in place a similar law on the federal level if she wins the presidency and Democrats take control of Congress.

Walz and his wife did fertility treatments for seven years before having their first child and the campaign has noted his personal connection to IVF.