Vice president Kamala Harris stopped at the University of Nevada, Reno campus on Tuesday to layout the Harris/Biden Administration's strategies toward fighting against the roll back of abortion rights currently happening across the United States.
It was a packed house at the Nightingale Concert Hall with a large delegation of Nevada Democratic lawmakers in the crowd.
Harris was joined by Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve and Hollywood actor and producer Rosario Dawson.
Harris's stop is timely with the United States Supreme Court making a ruling on the legality of the FDA approved abortion pill mifepristone on Wednesday.
Harris says Nevada is leading the path for the rest of the nation when it comes to abortion rights – and speaking to the students - she encouraged them to keep fighting for those rights
"Folks, around our country, people are suffering around our country so even though it's not in our backyard here in Nevada or California, please lead in this movement, and build up the energy and the momentum, to stand for our democracy, and our foundational principles, and the right for people to make their own decisions about their own lives,” said Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris.
A U.S. District Court in Amarillo, Texas last week, a state where all abortions are banned, ruled that the FDA improperly approved the abortion pill 20 years ago.
Within hours of the Texas ruling, a U.S. District Judge in Washington State filed a lawsuit blocking the FDA from pulling the drug from the market.
This leaves the conservative-controlled U.S. Supreme Court to decide what the status of the drug will be across the nation.
"United States Supreme Court, the court of Thurgood [Marshall], take a constitutional right that had been recognized from the people of America, from the women of America, and following that, we predicted it might happen, and it has. Laws are being proposed around our country by extremists, so called leaders, that would criminalize health care providers,” said Harris.
Harris noted the passage of Senate Joint Resolution 7 on Monday in the Nevada state senate. It would enshrine into the state constitution Nevadans’ access to abortion up to 24 weeks.
Another bill, Senate Bill 131, is being deliberated in the senate this week. It would protect people coming from another state to Nevada to seek abortion. It would also protect healthcare providers who administer abortions to out-of-state residents.
Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro is leading both of those abortion rights bills, and she was in attendance for Harris's speech.
