Harris Details The Expensive, Heartbreaking Process Of Traveling For An Abortion

Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday described in detail what it’s like for many women to have to travel out of their home state to access abortion care, marking the first time in recent memory that such a prominent political figure has magnified the real-life hurdles to obtaining care.

In a speech at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s leadership conference, the Democratic presidential nominee provided a riveting warning about what could happen to the country if her rival, former President Donald Trump, wins the election in November. She reminded the crowd that Trump nominated three of the conservative justices who overturned the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade — and the landscape for reproductive health care has been dire ever since.

She broke down, step-by-step, what traveling for abortion care really looks like. Harris noted that around 40% of Latinas in the U.S. live in states that have enacted abortion restrictions since the repeal of federal abortion protections.

“Understand that the majority of women who seek abortion care are mothers. Understand what that means for her,” Harris said to the crowd in Washington, D.C. Around 55% of women who have an abortion have already had one or more births, research shows.

“So, she’s got to now travel to another state — God help her that she has some extra money to pay for that plane ticket. She’s got to figure out what to do with her kids — God help her if she has affordable child care,” she continued. “Imagine what that means: She has to leave her home to go to an airport, stand in a TSA [airport security] line — like, think about this.”

Harris emphasized how terrifying it is for women to travel to a city they’ve never visited and receive medical