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View Winners → Politics Oct 17, 2022
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks in Las Vegas in 2019 when she was a U.S. senator. | Photo courtesy of Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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Joined by local elected officials, Vice President Kamala Harris visited the Mid-City area Monday for a discussion on efforts to protect reproductive rights, saying Congress will have to act to ensure women’s ability to seek an abortion is ensured.
“This is about freedom and liberty,” Harris said during the event at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center. “Twenty-two days, there is an election. That is a fact.”
She added, “We need to hold on to what we have, and we need two more senators,” imploring attendees to support pro-choice candidates in the upcoming election to protect Democrats’ voting power in Washington.
“We’re going to have to protect these rights by having national legislation,” she said. “We need people in Congress to recognize that responsibility.”
About 200 people attended the event, which featured opening remarks by Mayor Eric Garcetti. Also in attendance were mayoral candidate Rep. Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles; Attorney General Rob Bonta; and Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California.
“Abortion is a fundamental right in America,” Padilla said in a statement following the event. “While in California, the right to an abortion is currently safe, the worst thing we could do is grow numb to this crisis.”
He called on residents to support Proposition 1 on the November ballot, codifying the right to an abortion in the state Constitution. But he said a similar step is needed nationally.
“That’s why we must continue to grow our Democratic majorities so we can prevent a national abortion ban,” he said.
Harris is scheduled to take part in a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in the Southland on Monday night. The fundraising appearance will be Harris’ second in three days. She spoke at a Michigan Democratic Party fundraiser Saturday in Detroit.
Harris arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on Saturday from Detroit, where she also toured the Focus: Hope Manufacturing Training Facility in Detroit and spoke at a voter education event with students at Southfield High School for the Arts and Technology in Southfield, Michigan.
The vice president had no public events Sunday.
The visit is Harris’ first to Los Angeles since Aug. 25-28.
