ATLANTA — Vice President Kamala Harris criticized former president Donald Trump over the issue of abortion access at a rally in Atlanta on Saturday, pointing out that the family of Amber Thurman — a Georgia woman who died in 2022 after she did not receive proper medical care because of abortion restrictions — was in the audience.
In the waning weeks of the presidential campaign, Harris used her time in Atlanta to emphasize the Republican nominee’s role in appointing Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, which had guaranteed the constitutional right to an abortion. The comments came the week after the Georgia Supreme Court moved to restore a six-week abortion ban.
Democrats see abortion access as a driver for voter turnout this election cycle. Harris told the Atlanta audience that Trump “still refuses to take accountability for the pain and the suffering he has caused,” and has failed to acknowledge “the pain and suffering” that has ensued as a result of abortion restrictions around the country.
Harris played a clip of Trump at an all-women Fox News town hall, in which the moderator said Thurman’s family had just participated in a call hosted by the vice president’s campaign.
“Oh, that’s nice,” Trump said in the clip. “We’ll get better ratings, I promise.”
Harris said Trump had “mocked” Thurman’s family in the clip and later asked, “Where is the compassion?”
“What we see continually from Donald Trump is exactly what that clip shows,” Harris told the audience. “He belittles their sorrow, making it about himself and his television ratings. It is cruel. And listen, I promised Amber’s mother that we will always remember her story and speak her name.”
The crowd then began to chant alongside Harris: “Amber Nicole Thurman.”
Harris also repeated her assertion that Trump is exhausted from campaigning after several canceled appearances, and called into question Trump’s coherence.
“He is only focused on himself, and now he’s ducking debates. And canceling interviews because of exhaustion. And when he does answer a question or speak at a rally, have you noticed he tends to go off script and ramble? And generally, for the life of him, cannot finish a thought,” she said.
Harris told reporters earlier Saturday that she was responding to Trump’s comments at her rallies more frequently because “he’s becoming increasingly unstable and unhinged, and it requires a response.”
“I think the American people are seeing it, witnessing it in real time. And we must take note of the fact that this is an individual who wants to be president of the United States,” Harris said. “And I think the American people deserve better than someone who actually seems to be unstable.”
At a smaller campaign event earlier Saturday in Detroit, Harris said that voters need to “just watch” Trump’s rallies if they remain undecided.
“We stand for the idea that the true measure of the strength of a leader is not based on who you bring down, it’s on who you lift up,” Harris said, adding that at rallies, Trump “spends full time talking about himself and mythical characters, not talking about the working people, not talking about you, not talking about lifting you up.”
Harris’s events in both Detroit and Atlanta included celebrity cameos.
The recording artist Lizzo, speaking in Detroit, pointed to her roots and pushed back on Trump’s recent comments insulting Detroit.
“They say that if Kamala wins, the whole country will be like Detroit,” Lizzo said during the event. “Proud like Detroit. Resilient like Detroit. We’re talking about the same Detroit that innovated the auto industry and the music industry, so put some respect on Detroit’s name.”
Harris later took the stage at the event wearing a T-shirt that said “Detroit -VS- Everybody.”
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley said in a statement after the Detroit rally that Harris “needs Lizzo on the campaign trail to hide the fact that Michiganders were feeling good under President Trump.”
In Atlanta, R&B singer Usher rallied for Harris.
“Let me make certain that I’m talking to all my ATLiens out there,” he said, energizing the thousands of rallygoers. “We need everyone to get out there and support this campaign.”
“We love you, Usher!” one attendee yelled out.
“I love you more, but I love Kamala Harris even more,” Usher said. “I want her to be our next president of the United States.”
Vazquez reported from Washington and Wells from Detroit.