Vice President Kamala Harris says the Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization could be used to take away Americans’ rights.
The vice president made her comments while speaking at a Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute event Tuesday where she asserted the Supreme Court’s decision has international implications, according to Fox News.
Harris claimed because Roe v. Wade was overturned, undermining the federal protections for abortion, it threatens the United States’ position as a global leader in human rights.
“The thing about who we are as a country, as Americans of the United States, is we have been able to walk in these rooms with confidence, talking about the importance of democracies, talking about the importance of rule of law, human rights. We have held ourselves out to be a role of all of those things, which gives us then some legitimacy, dare I say authority, to then talk about human rights around the world, talk about the importance of rule of law around the world,” Harris said.
The vice president went on to say, “When you are a role model, people watch what you do to see if it matches up to what you say. So nations around the world are watching this and saying, ‘What’s going on there? Do they really stand for democracy? Do they really have a legitimate ability to tell other countries what to do?'”
In addition to harming the United States’ reputation among other democracies, Harris continued, saying the Supreme Court’s decision also gives bad actors a pass.
“Authoritarian countries can now say, ‘That great democracy is taking these rights. Why can’t we also?'” the vice president questioned.
Harris’ comments came on the heels of her recent comments where she asserted that support for abortion was not in conflict with the faiths that many believe preclude them from supporting the practice.
KAMALA HARRIS: “There’s nothing about [abortion] that will require anyone to abandon their faith” pic.twitter.com/6DsMBg94Ui
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 18, 2022
“I’ve convened faith leaders. And, you know, for those of us of faith, I think that we — we agree, many of us, that there’s nothing about this issue that will require anyone to abandon their faith or change their faith,” she said from the runway of Dulles International Airport on Friday.
“It’s simply saying that the government should not have the ability to decide what an individual does with her own body,” she said. “Let her make that decision with her pastor or her rabbi or whoever she consults. But it should not be the government making that decision.”
