{"id":10115,"date":"2024-01-23T18:02:05","date_gmt":"2024-01-23T18:02:05","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"Biden-and-Harris-paint-Trump-as-freedom\u2019s-enemy-at-abortion-rally-in-Virginia-53800561\/","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/?p=10115","title":{"rendered":"Biden and Harris paint Trump as freedom\u2019s enemy at abortion rally in Virginia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"President
President Joe Biden arrives to speak at an event on the campus of George Mason University in Manassas, Va., Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024, to campaign for abortion rights, a top issue for Democrats in the upcoming presidential election. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Vice
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks before President Joe Biden at an event on the campus of George Mason University in Manassas, Va., Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024, to campaign for abortion rights, a top issue for Democrats in the upcoming presidential election. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"President
President Joe Biden speaks during an event on the campus of George Mason University in Manassas, Va., Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024, to campaign for abortion rights, a top issue for Democrats in the upcoming presidential election. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"President
President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting with his reproductive rights task force to mark the 51st anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, in the State Dining Room of the White House, Monday, Jan. 22, 2024, in Washington.Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will join forces at a rally in Virginia on Tuesday as they push for abortion rights. First lady Jill Biden and second gentleman Doug Emhoff will also be there at what will be the first joint appearance by the four of them…<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"President
President Joe Biden looks on as Dr. Tani Malhotra, M.D., Maternal-Fetal Medicine physician and Assistant Professor of Reproductive Biology, speaks during a meeting with his reproductive rights task force to mark the 51st anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, in the State Dining Room of the White House, Monday, Jan. 22, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Evan Vucci)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Vice
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 7, Monday, Jan. 22, 2024, in Big Bend, Wis. Harris is embracing her position as the Democrats’ leading champion for abortion rights in this year’s election. Harris visits Wisconsin on Monday for the first in a series of nationwide events focused on abortion, which remains politically potent almost two years since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. (AP Photo\/Morry Gash)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>

MANASSAS, Va. \u2014 President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris rallied for abortion rights here on Tuesday as they prepared for a likely rematch with Donald Trump, the former Republican president who paved the way for overturning Roe v. Wade.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s betting we won\u2019t hold him responsible,\u201d Biden said to a crowd of hundreds of cheering supporters. \u201cHe\u2019s betting you\u2019re going to stop caring.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut guess what?\u201d he added. \u201cI\u2019m betting he\u2019s wrong. I\u2019m betting you won\u2019t forget.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rally came on the same day as the Republican primary in New Hampshire, where Trump hopes to tighten his grip on his party\u2019s presidential nomination, and it demonstrated how Democrats hope to harness ongoing anger over abortion restrictions to blunt his comeback bid. <\/p>\n

Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court less than two years ago in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women\u2019s Health Organization, a decision enabled by three conservative justices appointed by Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe person most responsible for taking away this freedom in America is Donald Trump,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Biden was interrupted several times by protests over Israel\u2019s war in Gaza, with one shouting \u201cshame on you!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is going to go on for a while; they got this planned,\u201d the Democratic president said as the protestors were escorted out one by one.<\/p>\n

Biden and Harris were joined by their spouses, first lady Jill Biden and second gentleman Doug Emhoff, at Monday\u2019s rally. It\u2019s the first time the four of them have appeared together since the campaign began, a reflection of the importance that Democrats are putting on abortion this year.<\/p>\n

Jill Biden told a story about a friend who became pregnant in high school, years before Roe v. Wade. The friend, she said, needed to get a psychiatric evaluation to be declared mentally unfit before she could get the abortion. <\/p>\n

\u201cSecrecy, shame, silence, danger, even death. That\u2019s what defined that time for so many women,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd because of Dobbs that\u2019s where we\u2019re finding ourselves back again, refighting the battles we had fought.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emhoff told the crowd that the fight for abortion rights needed men as well. <\/p>\n

\u201cReproductive freedom is not a woman\u2019s issue,\u201d Emhoff said. \u201cIt\u2019s an everyone\u2019s issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

The four of them spoke in front of a blue banner that spanned the width of the stage and said \u201cRestore Roe\u201d in bold letters. The crowd hummed with energy, chanting \u201cfour more years\u201d and booing Trump\u2019s name, a glimpse of the enthusiasm that has been largely missing from Biden\u2019s low-key events since announcing his reelection campaign last April. <\/p>\n

Democrats view Virginia as a success story in their fight for abortion rights since Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. In last year\u2019s legislative elections, the party maintained control of the Senate and won a majority in the House. It was a defeat for Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who had proposed new limits on abortion and had been considered a potential presidential candidate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe voice of the people has been heard and it will be heard,\u201d said Harris, the first woman to serve as vice president.<\/p>\n

She also targeted Trump in her speech, describing him as \u201cthe architect of this health care crisis\u201d caused by abortion restrictions around the country.<\/p>\n

Harris was in Wisconsin on Monday to mark the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the first stop in a nationwide series of events focused on abortion. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn America, freedom is not to be given. It is not to be bestowed. It is ours by right,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd that includes the freedom to make decisions about one\u2019s own body \u2014 not the government telling you what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Harris and Democrats have embraced abortion as a campaign issue, many Republicans are shying away or calling for a truce, fearful of sparking more backlash from voters. <\/p>\n

Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, recently made a plea to \u201cfind consensus\u201d on the divisive issue. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs much as I\u2019m pro-life, I don\u2019t judge anyone for being pro-choice, and I don\u2019t want them to judge me for being pro-life,\u201d she said during a primary debate in November. <\/p>\n

Trump has taken credit for helping to overturn Roe v. Wade, but he has balked at laws like Florida\u2019s ban on abortions after six weeks, which was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who dropped out of the Republican nomination race over the weekend. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to win elections,\u201d Trump said during a recent Fox News town hall. <\/p>\n

Abortion is also the focus of Biden\u2019s new television advertisement featuring Dr. Austin Dennard, an OB-GYN in Texas who had to leave her state to get an abortion when she learned that her baby had a fatal condition called anencephaly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Texas, you are forced to carry that pregnancy, and that is because of Donald Trump overturning Roe v. Wade,\u201d Dennard said.<\/p>\n

Although Democrats want to restore the federal rights that were established in Roe v. Wade, there\u2019s no chance of that with the current makeup of the Supreme Court and Republican control of the House. The White House is pushing against the limits of its ability to ensure access to abortion.<\/p>\n

On Monday, it announced the creation of a team dedicated to helping hospitals comply with the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, which requires hospitals receiving federal money to provide life-saving treatment when a patient is at risk of dying. <\/p>\n

The Department of Health and Human Services said it would improve training at hospitals concerning the law and publish new information on how to lodge a complaint against a hospital.<\/p>\n

Some advocacy groups have accused HHS of not responding aggressively enough to such complaints. Last week, The Associated Press reported that federal officials did not find any violation of the law when an Oklahoma hospital instructed a 26-year-old woman to wait in a parking lot until her condition worsened to qualify for an abortion of her nonviable pregnancy.<\/p>\n

The White House has repeatedly turned to Harris, the first woman to serve as vice president, to make its case on abortion. Her outspokenness contrasts with Biden\u2019s more reticent approach. Although he is a longtime supporter of abortion rights, he mentions the issue less often and sometimes avoids using the word abortion even when he discusses the issue. <\/p>\n

Jamal Simmons, a former communications director for Harris, said abortion \u201cfocused her attention and her office in a way that nothing had before.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president and the vice president appeal to different parts of the party,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cThey\u2019re stronger as a team.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANASSAS, Va. \u2014 President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris rallied for abortion rights here on Tuesday as they prepared for a likely rematch with Donald Trump, the former Republican president who paved the way for overturning Roe v….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":126,"featured_media":10116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_newspack_byline_active":true,"_newspack_byline":"by [Author id=126]Colleen Long[\/Author] Associated Press","newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,508],"tags":[25],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[612],"class_list":["post-10115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","category-top-headlines-cm","tag-primary-2024","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/42759057-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/126"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10115"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10117,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10115\/revisions\/10117"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10115"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fnewspack_spnsrs_tax&post=10115"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=10115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}