Kamala Harris assumes that it was a mistake to take the right to abortion in the US for granted

Kamala Harris, this Friday in a meeting with legislators on reproductive rights at the White House. Yuri Gripas / POOL (EFE)

Showing a rare self-criticism among politicians and leaders, Kamala Harris, vice president of the United States, has lamented that Americans - and Democrats included - took the right to abortion for granted.

Harris has spoken in an interview on CBS News, which will be broadcast this Sunday, about the repeal of the

doctrine by the Supreme Court, two weeks ago, and about the steps that the Administration that he leads intends to take to correct the failure impact.

The interview will air this Sunday.

Abounding in self-criticism, Harris has pointed out that the Democrats did not codify the Roe doctrine in the past because they "firmly believed" that the problem was "resolved", according to the information portal

in a preview of the interview.

“I think, to be very honest with you [the interviewer]… the truth is that we believed that certain issues were already resolved,” he replied, when asked if he believed that the Democrats did not adequately protect access to legal abortion by enacting legislation. a law.

After admitting that his party was wrong, or at least he was overconfident in this regard, Harris lamented the involution that, in his opinion, the Supreme Court's decision implies.

"That's why I think we're living in, unfortunately, really unstable times."

However, he pointed out that Congress can still act to protect the right to abortion: "We need Congress to act because that branch of the Government is the one that really codifies ... the rights that, again, we took for granted, but clearly have been taken from the women of America.

Kamala Harris's statements follow the signing, this Friday, by President Joe Biden of an executive order to "safeguard access to reproductive health services, including abortion and contraception, and protect privacy and patient and clinic safety.

The signing of the executive order was attended by Harris and the Secretary of Health and Human Resources, Xavier Becerra, who will be responsible for developing Biden's order, which is too vague according to activists and NGOs.

The president also asked women to vote "in large numbers" in the mid-term elections in November, as "the fastest way" to stop the conservative drift of the Supreme Court.

The House will vote on legislation to protect the right to abortion next week, when Congress resumes its sessions and processes the bill for the Protection of Women's Health, which Roe would codify and which, despite having been approved by the Lower House last year, was blocked in the Senate.

In the upper house, it can stumble again on the same stone: the legislative obstruction known as filibustering, which is why there are more and more Democratic voices - including Biden's - who would like to modify the regulation to save the obligatory majority of 60 votes ( out of a total of 100) needed when approving a law.

Fired for making fun of Jill Biden

According to the

newspaper

, which first broke the news, the Army has suspended a retired officer for allegedly making fun of a comment by the president's wife, Jill Biden, in favor of abortion.

Retired Lt. Gen. Gary Volesky, a former spokesman for the Armed Forces and now a training adviser, responded on social media to a Biden tweet that said women's rights had been stolen in the Supreme Court's decision to overturn

.

“For almost 50 years [since 1973, when Roe was adopted], women have had the right to make our own decisions about our bodies.

Today, that right was stolen from us,” Jill Biden tweeted.

"I'm glad to see you finally know what a woman is," Volesky responded on Twitter, in an alleged allusion to the Biden White House's support for trans people.

Volesky, who was in charge of the Army's 101st Airborne Division, signed a contract after retirement to mentor active-duty officers, for which he was paid $90 an hour.

Speaking to

, an Army spokeswoman confirmed Volesky's suspension and the opening of an investigation into it.

The newspaper describes Volesky's response as "lack of decorum", while the portal recalls that it is an unusual slip that enters fully into politics, from which the Pentagon traditionally stays away.