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: It’s very unfortunate that our physician witnesses were not able to attend today.
Gilbert: No, I’m 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. I’m 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 don’t think we have a limit in the bill.
Gilbert: Where it’s 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? She’s 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. I’m 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,” Harris said.
Kamala Harris did not explicitly bring up the issue of abortion, but she did speak of Tran’s championing of women’s issues, which was likely a reference to the failed pro abortion legislation.
“She is somebody who never puts up her finger and says, ‘Oh, is this going to be popular or not?’” Harris said. “You know that. You know she’s taken on huge fights, in particular for the women of Virginia and the families that love them, saying it’s not about what’s popular at the moment. It’s about what’s right. And these are the kinds of leaders we need in our statehouses.”
After the event, the radical pro-abortion group NARAL Virginia described both Tran and Harris as “reproductive rights champions” because they support abortion up to birth.
One of Harris’ top priorities if elected President is to end the Hyde Amendment. “I 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,” Harris said.
The Hyde Amendment—the appropriations legislation first introduced in 1976 by Rep. Henry Hyde — 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.
