Kamala Harris Says Legalizing Abortion Nationwide Would Be Her First Priority as President

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris said in a new interview over the weekend her first priority as president would be to codify Roe v. Wade and legalize abortion nationwide, although Harris once again declined to say which restrictions, if any, she would support. Harris made the remarks in an interview with CBS News anchor Norah O'Donnell, who asked the vice president about details of a theoretical abortion bill.

"You've not said what restrictions you would support," O'Donnell said.

"This was not an issue when Roe versus Wade was intact for 50 years," Harris said. "[For] half a century, women together with their physicians, were here at a medical office, talking with physicians and women in consultation if they chose, with their priest, their pastor, their rabbi, their Imam."

"So you do support restrictions after viability?" O'Donnell asked.

"I support Roe versus Wade being put back into law by Congress and to restore the fundamental right of women to make decisions about their own body. It is that basic," Harris said. "We would not be debating this if Donald Trump had not hand-selected three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention they would undo the protections of Roe v. Wade. And what we have seen, as demonstrated last night [when women at a Houston rally spoke of the impact of a Texas abortion law], and every day these last two years, is extraordinary harm that has occurred in America, where women have died because of Trump abortion bans; where women who have survived rape and girls incest, and no exception for someone whose body has been violated, to make a decision about what happens to their body next."

Harris then said legalizing abortion nationwide would be her first priority as president.

"We have seen women who are experiencing a miscarriage around a pregnancy they prayed for, and being denied healthcare because doctors are afraid they're gonna go to prison, and those women developing sepsis," she said. "We have seen extraordinary harm and pain and suffering happen because of what Donald Trump did in intending and effectuating an overturning of Roe v. Wade. Yes, my first priority is to put back in place those protections and to stop this pain, and to stop this injustice that is happening around our country."

Vice President Harris: Women have died because of Trump Abortion Bans. We have seen women experiencing miscarriages being denied health care because doctors are afraid they're going to go to prison. My first priority is to put back in place the protections of Roe v. Wade pic.twitter.com/JIhJIGHpPP
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 27, 2024

"So then," O'Donnell responded, "why not say what restrictions you would support as part of that?"

"I've told you: Let's put back in place Roe v. Wade," Harris replied.

Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, said this month that abortion should be an issue for the states. He previously said he would veto a bill legalizing abortion nationwide.

"States are already giving it to the PEOPLE to Vote, which is what everyone wanted," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "Like Ronald Reagan, I believe in the EXCEPTIONS for Rape, Incest, and the Life of the Mother. Many States are already done, and others are moving to a vote now. A 52-year contentious issue will finally come to a close. The focus now is on the broken Border, Inflation, and the Economy!"

WATCH: Kamala Harris on Her First Priority as President | CBS Sunday Morning

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.