PHOENIX — Vice President Kamala Harris will make a campaign stop Monday in Phoenix to mark the second anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s "Dobbs decision" that overturned a woman’s right to an abortion.
Actress Francia Raisa will join the vice president for an event focusing on reproductive freedom in Latino communities, according to the Biden-Harris campaign.
Harris’ visit underscores efforts to make reproductive rights a centerpiece of President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign.
Arizona has been fertile ground for the campaign to make its case in a battleground state that could decide who wins the White House. Biden won Arizona from Donald Trump by just 11,000 votes in 2020.
Harris last visited after 1864 ban upheld
Last April, Harris made a spur-of-the-moment decision to fly to Tucson for a rally just days after the Arizona Supreme Court upheld a 160-year-old, near-total ban on abortion as state law.
In the weeks that followed, the Republican-controlled Legislature repealed the law after intense debate.
Under a high court order, the 1864 law was still to have taken effect at the end of September.
With the end of this year’s legislative session Saturday night, the effective date for new laws will be Sept. 14 – rendering the ban dating from Arizona’s first year as a U.S. Territory a relic of that era.
Upcoming deadline for abortion rights vote
The week after Harris’ visit, on July 3, a campaign to enshrine abortion rights in the Arizona Constitution is expected to turn in an estimated 800,000 voter signatures to put the question on the statewide November ballot.
The legal threshold for placement on the ballot is about 385,000 valid voter signatures
The Arizona Abortion Access Act would create a "fundamental right" to an abortion until about the 24th week of pregnancy, a widely accepted standard for fetal viability. Decisions after that would be up to the patient and a health care provider.
The state Legislature would be removed from any role in regulating abortion rights.
Opponents of the initiative contend the provisions go far beyond what most voters would support.
Current Arizona law allows abortion up to 15 weeks of pregnancy, with the exception of a "medical emergency" for the mother. There is no exception for cases of rape or incest.
Democratic lawmakers asked Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes last week for an expedited opinion on what constitutes a medical emergency.
GOP candidates struggle to respond
Republican candidates have struggled to find their footing on reproductive rights.
U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake has called the 1864 ban "a great law" while also supporting its repeal.
Likely Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump didn’t bring up abortion during a recent rally in Phoenix.
In the past week, he has told Republicans to campaign on abortion as a state-level issue but also urged an anti-abortion faith group to talk about defending "innocent life."
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