Harris focusing on personal stories as she campaigns on abortion rights

WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time since she ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket, Vice President Kamala Harris is set to give a speech focused squarely on abortion rights and she’ll do so in Georgia, where news reports have documented women’s deaths in the face of the state’s six-week ban.

“It is a time of mourning, but it’s also a time where great action can come out of this,” said Park Cannon, a Georgia state lawmaker and a doula who provides guidance and support to pregnant woman during labor.

ProPublica reported this week that two Georgia women died after they did not get proper medical treatment for complications from taking abortion pills to end their pregnancies.

Harris, who will be in the Atlanta area on Friday to address the issue, on Thursday night heard from the mother and sisters of one of the women who died.

During a livestreamed campaign event hosted by Oprah Winfrey and attended by Harris, Shanette Williams, the mother of Amber Thurman, tearfully told viewers that “people around the world need to know that this was preventable.” Williams said she initially did not want to go public about her daughter’s 2022 death but ultimately decided it was important for people to understand her daughter “was not a statistic. She was loved.”

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