Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to campaign in Texas on Friday alongside pop sensation Beyoncé to give an address on reproductive freedom.
Harris is visiting Beyoncé's hometown of Houston because the vice president's campaign considers Texas ground zero for abortion bans in the U.S. following the Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade. Texas implemented one of the strictest abortion laws in the U.S. following the 2022 decision, banning abortions in nearly all instances.
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Despite Texas not being considered a swing state, Harris hopes both star power and a galvanizing issue bolsters her standing at the polls.
In a New York Times poll released Friday that shows an evenly divided contest between Harris and former President Donald Trump, 15% of voters said abortion was the No. 1 issue in this election. Only the economy ranked higher among the top issues.
Among voters who said abortion was the top issue, 55% of voters said they support Harris compared to 40% who said Trump.
Harris' event comes one day after she had her biggest campaign rally so far. Her campaign said that 23,000 attendees were present as she joined former President Barack Obama for the first time on the campaign trail.
A senior Harris campaign official said that the vice president will be joined by several people who have been impacted by abortion bans.
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Harris has said that if elected, she would urge Congress to codify a right to get an abortion up until fetal viability. In the nearly 50 years of Roe v. Wade's precedent, states could not restrict abortions until a fetus reaches viability, which generally is at least 20 weeks into a pregnancy.
Trump has said he is not in support of a national abortion ban, but at times has given inconsistent answers on his view of the federal government's role in abortion laws. He has touted that he placed three conservative justices on the Supreme Court that were among the six who voted to overturn Roe.
Their decision led to 13 states implementing nearly total abortion bans. Four additional states ban abortions after six weeks.
