Abortion rights activists have cheered Vice President Kamala Harris’ choice of running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee, introduced Walz as “the kind of vice president America deserves” as they campaigned together for the first time in battleground Pennsylvania on Tuesday.
A schoolteacher turned politician, Walz has been a vocal champion of reproductive rights and helped enact sweeping protections in his state. Minnesota was the first state to pass a law protecting abortion rights after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in the summer of 2022. Abortion is legal throughout pregnancy in the state, making Minnesota a destination for the procedure for those in other states with bans.
At Tuesday’s rally in Philadelphia, Walz spoke about protecting access to abortion and criticized Republicans.
“Even if we wouldn’t make the same choice for ourselves, there’s a golden rule: mind your own damn business!” he told the crowd, drawing cheers.
Gov. Tim Walz gets huge applause when talking about protecting abortion access at his introduction rally with VP Kamala Harris…
“Even if we wouldn’t make the same choice for ourselves, there’s a golden rule…mind your own damn business.” pic.twitter.com/y3vZpXM3PM
— Max Lewis (@MaxLewisTV) August 6, 2024
Abortion rights advocates have praised Walz as a strong choice to help Harris take on Republican Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, in November.
Walz is “a reproductive rights champion for Minnesotans who’s signed laws expanding and protecting the right to abortion and making health care more affordable,” Jenny Lawson, executive director for Planned Parenthood Votes, said in a statement.
“In stark contrast, JD Vance has spent his entire career in elected office attacking our fundamental freedoms. From his support for a national abortion ban to his refusal to protect access to IVF, it’s clear that Vance believes that he should have a say in personal medical decisions that should be between a patient and their doctor.”
Lawson said the super PAC branch of Planned Parenthood “is working to ensure Kamala Harris and Tim Walz make it to the White House, where they can build on the work Harris has done as vice president to protect our lives, bodies, and futures.”
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Mini Timmaraju, the CEO and president of nonprofit Reproductive Freedom for All, said on MSNBC that Minnesota “was the first state to codify federal protections for abortion rights and immediately sprung into action right after the Dobbs decision… that tells you so much about Tim Walz and Gwen [Walz], quite frankly.”
Minnesota “also instituted protections for patients and providers not to be extradited to states with bans,” Timmaraju said. “They were very clear about where they were in terms of protecting a nationwide population that was going to have to come to Minnesota.”
The Harris-Walz and Trump campaigns have been contacted for comment via email.
Anti-abortion activists on the other hand have criticized Walz’s record.
“Harris-Walz is the most pro-abortion, baby killing, ticket we’ve ever seen in America,” Kristan Hawkins, the president of nonprofit Students for Life of America, wrote on X on Tuesday.
Billy Valentine, of SBA Pro-Life America, wrote that Walz “is no moderate on abortion. Because of the laws he championed & signed, there is NO abortion limit in Minnesota & young girls can get secret abortions without their parents ever knowing.”
Harris is making abortion a major issue of her presidential campaign. And it’s a winning one for Democrats—voters have sided with abortion-rights supporters every time the issue has been directly on the ballot since Roe‘s fall.
She and Walz will likely repeatedly hammer former President Trump and Vance on abortion ahead of November’s election. Trump has repeatedly taken credit for the overturning of Roe but has publicly declined to support a national abortion ban.
Vance has said he adheres to Trump’s views but said in 2022 that he would like abortions to be “illegal nationally.”
