Vice President Kamala Harris discusses abortion access with Sheryl Lee Ralph at Montgomery County event
ELKINS PARK, Pa. (CBS) — Vice President Kamala Harris spoke about abortion access and women's health care during a campaign event at Salus University in Montgomery County Wednesday.
The event started with applause and quickly turned into a conversation between friends as Harris spoke to actress Sheryl Lee Ralph.
"You go to clinics like this because you need health care," said Ralph, who is married to Pennsylvania state Sen. Vincent Hughes.
"That's right," Harris responded as the crowd cheered.
The event was called the "Conversation on Reproductive Freedom." Harris warned that abortion restrictions in more than a dozen states could spread nationwide if Republican candidate Donald Trump is elected again, and more women could be affected by the overturning of Roe v. Wade two years ago.
"I was just recently in Florida," Harris said. "Six-week ban, which makes very clear, by the way, that these very important so-called leaders are not very clear about how a woman's body works since most women don't even know they're pregnant at six weeks."
The conversation moved East Norriton Township Supervisor Laura Rivera. She remembered words that Harris shared from a Civil Rights icon.
"I love the quote from Coretta Scott King, 'This is a fight that has to be fought in every generation,' civil rights for all," Rivera said. "This is not about abortion. This is about health care for women."
There was Republican reaction before the conversation began. Karoline Leavitt, the national press secretary for the Trump campaign wrote:
"President Trump has long been consistent in supporting the rights of states to make decisions on abortion. Joe Biden and the Democrats are radically out of touch with the majority of Americans in their support for abortion."
Tom Stevens of the Pro-Life Union of Greater Philadelphia also said he supports Trump's approach to abortion restrictions.
"That is the Constitution. States are in charge. Roe v. Wade overturned and moved things back to the states, and we're glad for that," he said.
Harris and Biden have made reproductive rights a focus of their campaign, and the vice president said she was optimistic about young voters and believes they will vote for more reproductive health care access.
"This generation of young leaders, when they start voting in bigger numbers, I predict a sea change," Harris said.
Harris returned to Washington, D.C., where she was slated to headline a gala Wednesday night, calling for more reproductive freedoms.