Vice President Kamala Harris said in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash on Monday that it was looking at options that would allow women to travel out-of-state to receive abortions.
Bash asked Harris, “What about the idea of financial resources? Some form of voucher for travel, childcare services, other forms of support for people, for women seeking abortions in states where it’s not legal, but they just don’t have the means to go elsewhere.”
Harris said that options were being considered that would allow women to “travel without impairment” following the court’s decision that handed back abortion rights to the states.
Kamala Harris is asked if the administration can “expand abortion access or abortion services on federal land”pic.twitter.com/9uTvqDrvg7
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) June 27, 2022
“So, this is something that we are looking at because we know, for example, in terms of how this is going to actually impact real people, over half of the women who receive abortions in America are moms,” Harris said to Bash.
“That means that if they’re going to have to travel, they have to find daycare and pay for it. It means that they will, if they are working, which most are, they’re going to have to have time off from work and if they don’t have paid leave, they are going to have to figure out how to afford it,” she continued to explain to Bash. “It means they may have to put up money for a train or a bus or a plane, much less a hotel, and so we want to make sure that there does not result extreme disparities or any disparities based on who can receive care based on how much money they’ve got.”
“It’s not right now what we are discussing,” Harris continued. “But I will say, that when I think about what is happening in terms of the states, we have to also recognize that we are 130 odd days away from an election, which is going to include Senate races. Part of the issue here is that the court has acted, now Congress needs to act …We need to change the balance and have pro-choice legislators who have the power to make decisions about whether this constitutional right will be in law.”
Several states banned abortion on Friday after the Supreme Court’s ruling on Roe v Wade, while other states have moved to put into place “trigger laws” that would outlaw abortion once legislation is passed in their state.
States that immediately banned abortion include Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah and Alabama, and ones with “trigger laws” include Tennessee, Texas, Idaho, Mississippi, North Dakota, and Wyoming.
