Vice President Kamala Harris stopped in swing state Pennsylvania on Friday — eleven days before the midterm elections come to a close — criticizing in some of her most candid terms yet Republican lawmakers’ restriction of abortion rights and painting voting as critical to women’s rights for years to come.

What You Need To Know

  • Vice President Kamala Harris stopped in swing state Pennsylvania on Friday — eleven days before the midterm elections come to a close — criticizing in some of her most candid terms yet Republican lawmakers’ restriction of abortion rights

  • The vice president has made more than 20 stops across the country to discuss reproductive rights

  • On Friday, she called GOP efforts “insidious” and more deeply rooted in efforts to take away power from women

  • Harris and Bush called the midterms critical to determining the outlook of women's rights in the coming years, especially in the Senate

The vice president has made more than 20 stops across the country to discuss reproductive rights since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

On Friday, she called GOP efforts “insidious” and more deeply rooted in efforts to take away power from women.

“There's another issue that is very much at play here that I think has to also be spoken, which is the long-standing judgment associated with women's sexuality,” she said at Bryn Mawr, the women’s college.

“In this environment, it's also thick with judgment,” Harris added. “Which has the effect of making the individual feel embarrassed or is meant to shame her, but certainly will make her feel alone — which is one of the greatest tools that anyone has when they want to take someone's power.”

That feeling of being alone combined with confusion about the patchwork of abortion laws across the country, which Harris showed on a color-coded posterboard map, is what makes the Republican stance more deeply impactful, she said.

And that is why the midterm elections for senate are some of the most critical, the vice president added, explaining that senators’ terms are six years long.

“That is a very long time in the life of someone who has everything at risk on this issue,” she said. 

The vice president made the comments in a conversation moderated by actress Sophia Bush, who recently wrote an op-ed talking about her experience with abortion and who has been a voice on the issue in recent months.

Bush reminded the audience: “The election does not start in 11 days, the election ends in 11 days. We can all do more, whether it's five more phone calls, getting out for one more day of door-knocking.”

Bush also called out Republican Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz, who said in a debate this week that on abortion, “women, doctors, local political leaders” should be involved.

Vice President Harris quipped: “It makes me imagine being in, like, your OB’s office. And there you are with your doctor. And then in the chair over there is your local politician.” 

“You can't undo that image, can you, once you've seen it?” she said.

“It feels like not the vibe, just personal opinion,” Bush responded.

Also in the conversation was Pennsylvania Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, who noted that even though the state has not completed restricted abortion, local providers were already feeling the pressure of taking in women from nearby states with abortion bans.

“It's putting pressure on the care that's available here, because there are only so many resources. There is a scarcity problem,” she said. “We saw it when Texas went into effect earlier this year, all of a sudden it's hard to get an appointment in Oklahoma and California.”