Kamala Harris could advance reproductive freedom as president
It is the theme of every soundbite and television ad, as well as Harris’ speeches. Her official walkout song “Freedom” by Beyonce precedes each speech. It is communicated in each soundbite and television ad, and it’s the throughline of every speech Harris delivers–speeches that are preceded by her official walkout song, “Freedom” by Beyonce.
As it’s the defining word of her campaign, a future Harris-Walz administration needs to be prepared to truly embrace it–and the weight it carries–in its approach to reproductive rights if they succeed in their path to the White House, even if it means breaking from a Roe v. Wade-focused mindset and going further to secure equitable access to abortion for all Americans.
Gen Z, the newest and one of the most progressive generations of voters, has played a key role in bolstering her candidacy through a formidable online presence. Harris represents the future of the party–so her approach to reproductive rights should similarly reflect a transition to a more aggressive strategy for protecting and expanding one of the most fundamental freedoms: bodily autonomy.
As a college student who is a member of the Gen Z voting bloc, I believe that one of the most effective ways for a President Harris to build my generation’s long-term support for Democrats is to deliver on abortion rights.
There are several abortion policies that a Harris administration should support: the codification of abortion rights into law and expanded access, data privacy, a nationwide information campaign about reproductive care, support for reproductive equity, and a long-term strategy to prevent future attacks on abortion rights.
Protect abortion nationally and expand abortion pill access
Roe vs. Wade was settled law for nearly 50 years, and Democrats should, without question, fight tooth and nail to codify the right to abortion. Realistically, to do this through Congress, Democrats will need a majority in both chambers and a suspension of the filibuster.
According to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), there are enough votes in the Senate to suspend the filibuster and codify Roe into law through Congress. This will only be feasible if Democrats control the White House and both houses of Congress. While this would be the ideal scenario, Harris must be equally prepared for something less optimal.
Without a Democratic trifecta, there are still several ways in which a Harris-Walz administration could advance reproductive freedom, aside from and including the codification of the right to abortion into law.
Abortion access can be expanded by making abortion pills available over the counter (OTC), similar to how one birth control pill is now sold OTC. Mifepristone is more effective and safer than Tylenol or other OTC medications. Making them available on prescription would only serve the moral opposition against abortion and not the scientific evidence. In a country where abortion access is determined by state, OTC medication abortion would alleviate some barriers to care.
Privacy protections
Data privacy regulations are crucial to protect access to abortion care because private companies otherwise have nearly unfettered access to what should be private health-care information.
Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance publicly supported a policy which would allow police to track abortion patients who cross state borders. Even if Democrats can’t codify abortion rights into federal law, a Harris administration can make strides on abortion access through health-care privacy measures with a nationwide data privacy bill that protects location and health-care data from being sold to or accessed by private companies.
Democrats have made strides with privacy protections in states like Massachusetts, where the proposed Massachusetts Data Privacy and Protection Act would protect online search history relating to health-care services, ban the sale of cell phone location data, and protect data collected online about a person’s reproductive health care (like the purchase or use of contraception and birth control).
In February, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) released a report detailing how a data broker shared cell phone location data with an anti-abortion group to target reproductive health clinic patients in 48 states with anti-abortion misinformation ads. The proposed data privacy measures are in line with the Harris campaign message of freedom and could pass without a Democratic Trifecta. These attacks can be particularly damaging to vulnerable groups, like Gen Z people who may not have access to health care or resources due to their age. Basic data privacy should be palatable to moderate Republicans (especially ones who favor limited government) because the nature of this bill is simple: to support the freedom of all Americans to health-care treatment without the unnecessary and harmful interference of private companies.
Nationwide information campaign against CPCs
In a similar vein to data privacy and misinformation around reproductive health care is the issue of “crisis pregnancy centers” (CPCs), also known as anti-abortion centers. CPCs use deceptive marketing to lure patients who are seeking abortions. For example, they may claim to “consult” the patient on his or her decision to have an abortion when they actually try to convince them to continue with the pregnancy. Many CPCs have a record of claiming to provide “abortion reversals,” which is a myth and not a legitimate medical treatment.
Although the Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that CPCs cannot be compelled to provide patients with accurate information on terminating their pregnancies, a potential Harris-Walz administration could counter the dangerous consequences of misinformation by unlicensed anti-abortion fake clinics through a nationwide advertising campaign that maps and distinguishes CPCs from actual reproductive health-care and abortion clinics.
This issue is especially pertinent to young voters. While Harris should work to reinstate the right to an abortion nationwide, concrete access to reproductive health care will be hampered if CPCs are not exposed for their deceptive practices. While Harris should strive to reinstate the right to an abortion nationwide, concrete access to reproductive health care will nevertheless be hampered if CPCs are not exposed for their deceptive practices.
Promoting reproductive equity
Even in a world where Americans have unfettered access to legal abortion care, broad swaths of the population won’t be able to access abortion services until we make strides in reproductive equity–which, in simple terms, means that every person has the right to make decisions about their own body and is provided with accessible and affordable care to meet their reproductive health-care wants and needs.
We have the Hyde Amendment–which bars the use of federal funds for abortion services (with the exception of rape, incest, and life-threatening pregnancies) and has been renewed each year in the federal budget since 1976–to thank for this.
The Hyde Amendment impacts “particularly Black, Latina, and Indigenous women, who earn only slightly more than half the wages of white men and are more likely to be uninsured,” according to the National Network of Abortion Funds. This makes a basic health-care procedure discriminately inaccessible–particularly to young people who are uninsured at higher rates than the national average. This may require an amendment to a provision of the Affordable Care Act that allows states to exempt private insurers from covering abortion in health insurance plans. This may require an amendment to a provision of the Affordable Care Act that allows states to exempt private insurers from covering abortion in health insurance plans.
Preventing future attacks on abortion
A President Harris should prioritize repealing the Comstock Act to ensure that a future Republican president can’t pass a national abortion ban.
At present, the Comstock Act of 1873–a dormant chastity law that declared contraceptives to be illicit and outlawed their distribution across state lines or by mail–is the best vehicle for a national ban. Project 2025 has outlined the path towards a nationwide ban, which includes calling on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to enforce and revive the Comstock Act. The Comstock Act must be repealed under a Harris administration, regardless of whether abortion rights are codified into law. Whether or not abortion rights are codified into law, the Comstock Act must also be repealed under a Harris administration.
Bottom line: Democrats need to deliver
As evidenced by Harris’ campaign, the overturn of Roe in 2022 marked a watershed moment for reproductive rights, health, and justice in the country–and U.S. electoral politics. Rather than running away from the topic of abortion, as they did for decades, Democrats from the bottom to the top of the ticket are now running on the message of abortion as a fundamental component of freedom and autonomy.
Harris and down-ballot Democrats will continue to campaign on abortion because it is strong, effective, and accurate. But for the sake of their credibility and long-term success, especially among Gen Z voters who will remember this moment in politics for decades to come, Democrats must deliver on their promise to secure abortion rights nationwide.
While codifying Roe would be a basic first step, that is the floor. Harris, as president, would be able to advance a new progressive narrative about abortion and reproductive justice. This means not only securing the right of bodily autonomy but also promoting affordable, equitable abortion access, and protecting the nation from future attacks on reproductive health care.
