Vice President Kamala Harris urged Arizonans to turn out to vote for a measure reaffirming abortion access — and to support her while they’re at it — during a Thursday rally at which she again misstated former President Donald Trump’s policies on reproductive rights.
“Arizona, to protect your right to make your own health care decisions, I would recommend you vote Yes on Proposition 139,” the Democratic presidential nominee told applauding supporters in Phoenix.
“And make sure you vote up and down the ballot to truly protect that right.”
Harris, 60, claimed that Trump, 78, “will ban abortion nationwide, he will restrict access to birth control, put IVF treatments at risk and force states to monitor women’s pregnancies” — misstating the Republican nominee’s policies four times in a single sentence after using the same line Wednesday.
Trump has said he opposes a federal abortion ban and birth control restrictions and vowed to make in vitro fertilization free either through an insurance mandate or government subsidies. He has not advocated for government surveillance of pregnancies.
Arizona’s Proposition 139 would amend the state constitution to create a right to abortion — ensuring that the procedure would remain legal even under a hypothetical future governor and legislature hostile to access.
Polls suggest the measure is likely to pass easily — making it a potential vehicle to turn out less-engaged residents. In past elections, national campaigns similarly tried to harness pro-marijuana legalization and anti-same-sex marriage initiatives to drive up turnout in areas where those policies were popular.
Arizona is a historically Republican-leaning state, but narrowly voted against Trump in 2020 and polls suggest a close contest ahead of the Nov. 5 election.
The state already allows abortion up to 15 weeks of pregnancy as a result of bipartisan legislation that passed the Republican-controlled state legislature this year, reversing what would have been a near-total abortion ban as a result of legislation from 1864.
