Vice President Kamala Harris ’s decision to select Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) as her running mate solidifies the Democratic ticket as squarely opposed to abortion restrictions.
"Tim Walz has made his support of unlimited abortion a foundation of his administration," Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life, said in a press statement. "Both Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have yet to hear of an abortion they would oppose."
After winning reelection for governor in 2022, Walz and the newly-elected Democratic legislature in January 2023 rushed through the Protect Reproductive Options Act, which codified the “fundamental right to reproductive freedom” and essentially prohibited any restrictions on abortion, including gestational age limits.
Minnesota was the first state to enact abortion-rights legislation following the 2022 midterm elections, the first general election following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade and federal abortion protections.
Also early into his second term, Walz ushered in the repeal of existing law that would have required abortion patients to wait 24 hours and go through an informed consent process.
Under the new regulations, abortion providers also do not have to provide much data to the state Department of Health about each procedure and are only required to report how the abortion was performed, the age of the woman, and the approximate gestational age of the fetus. They do not need to report if the mother’s life or health was at stake, nor do they need to report if the pregnancy was a result of rape or incest.
Walz also signed the repeal of the Positive Alternatives Act, which funded pregnancy resource centers, also known as crisis pregnancy centers. CPCs, which provide assistance and counseling to pregnant women, are favored by anti-abortion groups but increasingly criticized by Democrats, who say the centers mislead women who might be seeking abortions.
Anti-abortion advocates and religious conservatives have become increasingly restive because the Republican Party has softened its stance on abortion ahead of the presidential election, as former President Donald Trump and vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance have advocated a state-based abortion policy. But they have also ramped up their opposition to Democrats as the party has moved to the left on abortion policy.
SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a press statement that Harris’s selection of Walz makes “the Democratic Party has become the ‘Shout Your Abortion’ party, with no limits for any reason even in the seventh, eighth or ninth month.”
“In contrast to President Trump, JD Vance and the GOP, who support the right of the people to set limits on abortion and provide real options for mothers in need, Democrats have made it clear nothing — not the checks and balances built into our government, not the humanity of unborn children and not the true needs of women — will stop them from imposing all-trimester abortion nationwide,” Dannenfelser said.
Other candidates on Harris’s short list for the "veepstakes " did not have the record of aggressively promoting abortion rights that Walz has.
Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) made it to the final three for Harris’s list. Abortion in Pennsylvania is legal until the 24th week of pregnancy, and Shapiro has not made any moves to change Pennsylvania's legal framework.
Govs. Roy Cooper (D-NC) and Andy Beshear (D-KY) both have track records of supporting abortion rights in red states, but neither had the support to liberalize policy as Walz was able to in Minnesota.
Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the lobbying arm of the abortion provider, called the announcement of Walz as Harris’s running mate “huge.”
“We could not think of a better duo headed to the White House,” Planned Parenthood Action Fund posted on X.
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The abortion-rights group Reproductive Freedom for All, formerly NARAL, also celebrated the announcement.
“Gov. Walz has championed reproductive freedom throughout his career in Congress and as MN governor — we're more than ready to send a Harris-Walz administration to the White House this November,” the organization posted on X.
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