Vice President Kamala Harris said in an interview that “women will die” if the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) overturns landmark ruling Roe v. Wade. Currently, the Court is weighing a case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which pertains to a 15-week abortion ban in Mississippi. The outcome of Dobbs could have direct implications on Roe.
In an interview published Sunday with the San Francisco Chronicle, Harris said that efforts for SCOTUS to curtail abortion could result in women dying, adding that she’s not “alarmist” or “extreme” by suggesting that.
“I don’t mean to sound alarmist, I mean this: Women will die,” Harris said in the interview.
“I’m very concerned about it,” she continued. “Women will die. In particular, women who don’t have economic resources and can’t then travel to places or somehow have access to safe reproductive health care, including abortion.”
“It is not an extreme statement, it is a fact,” Harris added.
When the Chronicle prompted Harris as to what the White House should do to protect abortion rights, she said “we have to see what the Court does.”
Earlier this year, President Biden positioned the Department of Justice (DOJ) to sue Texas in a separate lawsuit over a 6-week abortion ban in Texas. Last week, as I covered, SCOTUS announced that they would not move forward with the DOJ’s lawsuit against the state.
On Dec. 1, SCOTUS heard oral arguments in the Dobbs case. As I covered, reports following the hearing indicated that the Court would be open to overturning Roe, or at least upholding the state’s 15-week abortion ban.