Planned Parenthood Action Fund Endorses Kamala Harris for President
 

Contact: Feldman Strategies, [email protected]

ARIZONA – This week, Planned Parenthood Action Fund officially joined the resounding chorus of support for Kamala Harris to be the next President of the United States. Erika Mach, Chief External Affairs Officer at Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona, released the following statement on Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s endorsement: 

“Vice President Kamala Harris has spent her career fighting to protect access to sexual and reproductive health and is the only person running for president who will protect access to abortion. When the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision opened the door for the Arizona Supreme Court to allow Arizona’s archaic 1864 abortion ban to be enforced in our state, the VP came to Tucson to join us in fighting back against the draconian measure. She has used her time and position to continually uplift and listen to abortion providers, patients, and advocates, including by being the first vice president in history to visit a Planned Parenthood health center. 

We have the power to decide in this election what type of future we want for ourselves and for future generations. Despite Arizona’s legislature repealing the total ban, Arizonans are still living under a restrictive 15-week abortion ban, undermining our freedoms and criminalizing essential healthcare. We are fighting to advance reproductive freedom here in Arizona, so every Arizonan has the right to make their own decisions about their bodies, lives, and futures — Kamala Harris stands beside us in this fight. We must not forget the stakes of this election, a national abortion ban remains a real threat when extremist lawmakers are seeking to hold power. 

That’s why Planned Parenthood Action Fund is thrilled to endorse Kamala Harris for President – she is a reproductive rights champion and will be a fierce protector of our fundamental right to reproductive freedom.”  

Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona remains committed to fighting for abortion access and other essential sexual and reproductive health care services. 

###

Vice President Harris’s record on protecting our reproductive freedom — including abortion — is unquestionable. When Roe v. Wade was overturned, Vice President Kamala Harris stepped up to be a fearless, unapologetic champion for reproductive freedom in the midst of a public health crisis. For the past two years, she has traveled across the country, hosting nearly 100 events, to sound the alarm on the attacks against abortion rights. She was the first vice president in history to visit a Planned Parenthood health center. Her leadership shaped the Biden-Harris administration’s response to the loss of a fundamental right, keeping the needs of patients at the heart of her work. 

The Biden-Harris administration: 

• issued two executive orders on protecting and securing access to reproductive health care services in an effort to lessen the harm of the abortion crisis — leveraging Medicaid to support patient travel, opening up supplemental Title X funds, and making some abortion care available through the VA;
• responded to misinformation by launching ReproductiveRights.gov – an essential source of accurate, trusted information about health care and access; and
• issued HIPAA guidance and most recently a HIPAA rule to strengthen privacy protections for reproductive health care.

As a senator, Kamala Harris made reproductive freedom a cornerstone of her work. 

• She fought to improve Black maternal health outcomes by introducing many maternal health bills, including the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act. 
• She blocked Senate Republicans from defunding Planned Parenthood and advocated relentlessly for the Title X program, specifically against the domestic gag rule.
• She championed birth control access, supporting multiple bills to increase affordability of contraception, as well as defending the Affordable Care Act and supporting access to sex education. 
• In the Senate Judiciary Committee, she was a leader on reproductive rights — especially when she fought to keep the issue front and center during the pivotal Supreme Court confirmation hearings of now-Justices Kavanaugh and Barrett. 
• She championed efforts to protect and expand access to sexual and reproductive health and rights around the globe by cosponsoring the Global HER Act to permanently end the global gag rule.
• She fought to protect nationwide access to abortion at the federal level by co-sponsoring the Women’s Health Protection Act. 
• She worked to end insurance coverage bans on abortion care by co-sponsoring the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage or EACH Act. 
• Then-Sen. Harris received Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s Champion of Women’s Health Care Award in 2018 for her outstanding contributions to sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Planned Parenthood Action Fund conducts a rigorous endorsement process for presidential candidates that involves a vote of the Action Fund Board of Directors, which is ratified by local Planned Parenthood advocacy and political organizations. Candidates seeking endorsement are assessed based on their commitment to and strong record on sexual and reproductive health.