This past Sunday, one of the leading Democratic presidential contenders, Kamala Harris, campaigned on Sunday in Northern Virginia for a local politician who has previously introduced legislation that would have legally supported the abortions of unborn babies up until birth.
Harris spent part off her Sunday campaigning for Fairfax Democrat Kathy Tran, who is running again for the Virginia House of Delegates. She has represented the 42nd House of Delegates district since 2018.
Ironically, while Tran herself has four children, she sparked a national outrage in January for saying on camera that a piece of legislation she had introduced would allow abortions clear up until the point of labor, despite the fact that the mother or baby have no physical complications. During an exchange with another legislator, Todd Gilbert, Tran admitted that her bill allows abortions up until the last second before a baby is born:
Gilbert: So how late in the third trimester would you be able to do that?
Tran: Itâs very unfortunate that our physician witnesses were not able to attend today.
Gilbert: No, Iâm talking about your bill. How late in the third trimester could a physician perform an abortion if he indicated it would impair the mental health of the woman?
Tran: Or physical health.
Gilbert: Okay. Iâm talking about the mental health.
Tran: Through the third trimester. The third trimester goes all the way up to 40 weeks.
Gilbert: Okay. But to the end of the third trimester?
Tran: Yep. I donât think we have a limit in the bill.
Gilbert: Where itâs obvious a woman is about to give birth, that she has physical signs that she is about to give birth. Would that be a point at which she could still request an abortion if she was so certified? Sheâs dilating.
Tran: Mr. Chairman, that would be a decision that the doctor, the physician, and the woman would make at that point.
Gilbert: I understand that. Iâm asking if your bill allows that.
Tran: My bill would allow that, yes.
According to the Washington Examiner, presidential candidate Kamala Harris described Tran as a courageous politician.
She has endured, she has persevered, and, all the while, with courage, she has been one of the strongest leaders that we have,â Harris said.
Kamala Harris did not explicitly bring up the issue of abortion, but she did speak of Tranâs championing of womenâs issues, which was likely a reference to the failed pro abortion legislation.
âShe is somebody who never puts up her finger and says, âOh, is this going to be popular or not?ââ Harris said. âYou know that. You know sheâs taken on huge fights, in particular for the women of Virginia and the families that love them, saying itâs not about whatâs popular at the moment. Itâs about whatâs right. And these are the kinds of leaders we need in our statehouses.â
After the event, the radical pro-abortion group NARAL Virginia described both Tran and Harris as âreproductive rights championsâ because they support abortion up to birth.
One of Harrisâ top priorities if elected President is to end the Hyde Amendment. âI will ⌠continue to fight so that all women have access to reproductive health care [abortion] regardless of how much money they make by continuing my career-long opposition to the Hyde Amendment,â Harris said.
The Hyde Amendmentâthe appropriations legislation first introduced in 1976 by Rep. Henry Hyde â bars federal funding for elective abortions through Medicaid. The amendment has saved over two million preborn children and celebrated its 40th anniversary on September 30, 2016. Prior to the enactment of Hyde, the Medicaid program paid for roughly 300,000 abortions annually.
