Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday hailed voters in Kansas as “leaders” for rejecting a constitutional amendment that would have allowed legislators to further restrict abortions.

Speaking at a roundtable discussion on reproductive rights with lawmakers and local leaders in Boston, Harris added that the Kansas vote “made clear what we all know — the majority of Americans agree” that women should have the freedom to have abortions.” 

“I applaud the leaders, those just down-home leaders in Kansas, for what they just did two nights ago,” the vice president said, “because they organized and they spoke volumes. They said, we trust the women to make decisions about their lives, and they said this is not a partisan issue.”

Massachusetts is the seventh state where Harris has participated in discussions aimed at protecting abortion rights in recent weeks after the Supreme Court voted in June to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that had established the constitutional right to the procedure.

On Tuesday, abortion rights advocates scored a stunning victory when residents in conservative Kansas voted 59% to 41% against removing the right to abortion from the state constitution. 

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican who supports abortion rights, said during Thursday’s discussion he thinks it’s “critically important” to recognize that some issues “cross party lines,” particularly abortion rights. 

“I believe the vast majority of the people of America, and certainly the vast majority of the people in Massachusetts, believe that women should have the right to make the call with their families, their pastors, whomever it is they seek guidance and advice from when it comes to this issue,” Baker said.

Harris said she and President Joe Biden believe the Supreme Court ruling has left the nation “facing a health care crisis,” although the Biden administration has not formally declared it a health emergency. 

She singled out states whose abortion bans include cases of rape and incest, calling the legislators who passed them “extremists.”

“The idea that we would require someone who has endured an extreme act of violence and then subject her to the government's will … is outrageous,” the vice president said.

Harris also argued that many of the lawmakers who have voted to restrict or ban abortion access also attacked voting and LGBTQ rights. 

“This moment requires us to see there are extremist, so-called leaders who believe that the way forward is to restrict rights,” she said.

The vice president added that she doesn’t believe someone has to abandon their faith or beliefs to support abortion rights. 

“This is simply about saying the government should not be making the decision for that person,” Harris said.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., another roundtable participant, said women’s “bodily autonomy should not be up for debate but, devastatingly, it is,” adding that abortion bans will disproportionately impact minorities, LGBTQ people and the disabled.

Added Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, D-Mass.: “The Supreme Court has set up a system fraught with peril, where the rights for women's health care will just be a matter of what ZIP code you live in, what area code you're working in, what part of the country your doctor resides in.”