The vice president, Kamala Harris, promised on Friday in an exclusive interview with Noticias Telemundo to continue fighting before the courts in defense of the abortion pill mifepristone, just hours before the deadline given by the Supreme Court to dictate whether to allow continue to be available to millions of women in the country.
In her conversation with journalist Vanessa Hauc at the Telemundo headquarters in Miami (Florida), during which she also spoke about immigration, the economy, weapons and the environment, Harris defended the right of women "not to have the government tell them what do with your body," and censured as a political maneuver the legal dispute that could end the abortion pill, used by millions of people for two decades without reports of health problems.
The Supreme Court has until midnight Friday to decide on the future of mifepristone.
April 21, 202300:20
The "right to decide over your own body"
Harris put the decision of the Supreme Court in context within the conservative offensive against the right to abortion: "Many months ago [last June], the highest court took away a constitutional right that had been recognized to the people of the United States, to the women of the United States, which is the right to make decisions about their own bodies and their own reproductive health.
In his opinion, it is not a problem of religious faith, but rather the fundamental right to do what one believes is best for oneself and one's family, a decision that, he added, can be made together with one's pastor, priest or rabbi. , but that the Government should not take.
Vice President Kamala Harris (right), interviewed by journalist Vanessa Hauc in Miami, Florida, on April 21, 2023. NOTICIAS TELEMUNDO
Regarding mifepristone, Harris said that "it's a matter of politicians who sought a specific court [from a Texas judge appointed by former Republican President Donald Trump] that they thought would help them remove a drug from the market that was approved 20 years ago. by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The judge sided with the anti-abortion group that questioned federal approval, thus outlawing the pill.
The case is now in the hands of an appeals court, and could end up before the Supreme Court, which, meanwhile, was due to decide this Friday whether the pill could continue to be used until there was a final ruling.
The vice president added that the government will make sure that the privacy of women who abort is respected, because "there is a lot of fear that the laws that [Republican anti-abortion states] approve will criminalize doctors and nurses."
Majority of Americans Against Abortion Pill Restrictions
April 15, 202300:34
Labor exploitation of migrant children
Asked about journalistic investigations, including those by Noticias Telemundo and NBC News, which denounce that thousands of migrant children are exploited in hard and sometimes dangerous jobs after arriving in the United States, Harris explained: "It is something that worries me a lot, that we must condemn and we must stop. Our children must be allowed to be children, they must be allowed to be safe."
He assured that this problem affects him in a particular way because in his career as a prosecutor [before reaching the White House he was the attorney general of California and later a senator] he focused on crimes against women and children, and in particular in cases of exploitation.
"As a society, we must protect them in every possible way. That is our role and responsibility in a civil society: to ensure that the children of our community, and we should all consider them our children, are safe and protected," he said.
This is how El Paso is preparing for the increased migrant flow when Title 42 ends on May 11
April 21, 202302:31
Title 42 and "a path to citizenship"
On May 11, Title 42 ends, the regulation approved in March 2020 by Trump to reject asylum seekers at the border hiding behind the coronavirus pandemic.
The government headed by Joe Biden plans to announce measures next week to deal with the consequent increase in migrant arrivals, which could double once this policy ends.
Asked about it, Harris asked Congress to take action, and recalled that the first legislative measure they presented after arriving at the White House in January 2021 was immigration reform.
"Immigration is almost entirely in the hands of Congress, and they have refused to pass reasonable legislation that creates a path to citizenship," he said, referring to his proposal, which failed despite the fact that then the House of Representatives and the Senate they were in Democratic hands.
"In our country there are people who have been here for 10, 20, 30 years working hard and paying taxes that deserve a way" to citizenship
, he defended.
Asked if he would risk more political capital to pass that immigration bill for the remainder of his term (until January 2025), Harris said, "It's something I've worked on my whole career" and "will continue to do."
"My mother came to the United States alone when she was 19 [from India to California, where Harris was born in 1964], and I am the vice president of the United States. I understand the matter."
"He raised his hands and fired": witnesses recount how two cheerleaders were shot for a mistake
April 19, 202302:05
"Reasonable" Gun Safety Laws
Journalist Vanessa Hauc reminded Harris during the interview of the deaths of three people shot this week in separate incidents by ringing the wrong doorbell, turning their car into a stranger's house, or mistakenly getting into another vehicle at a public parking.
The vice president said she defended the Second Amendment to the Constitution, which protects the right to bear arms, but insisted on the need to approve "reasonable security laws," and opted to ban assault rifles, used in numerous increasingly frequent massacres. across the country: "Babies are dying. Babies. Children in school.
Our children are learning to read and write while learning to hide
and be quiet [if there is a shooting]," he lamented.
"Assault weapons are weapons of war and have no place in a civil society. We should have background checks. Why? Because it's reasonable to want to know before someone can buy a gun if a court has determined it's a danger for himself or for others," added the vice president.
A man accused of shooting a 6-year-old girl and her parents is arrested in Florida
April 21, 202300:51
The challenges of the climate emergency
The World Meteorological Organization published its 2022 climate report on Friday, confirming that temperatures in the past eight years have been the highest ever recorded, causing glaciers to melt and sea levels to rise.
"It's alarming," Harris said, "we all need to understand the magnitude of the crisis. It's very real. It's not something we can worry about later, because it's happening right now."
Harris recalled how the floods, droughts, hurricanes and tornadoes suffered by the country are evidence of the damage humanity causes to the planet, which aggravates these natural phenomena, and reaffirmed his Government's international commitment to reduce polluting emissions halve by 2030 and invest up to a trillion dollars to combat the climate crisis.
Planet Earth: Florida's iconic manatees are in danger.
This is how they try to save them
April 20, 202302:32
Candidate for re-election with Biden?
Biden is preparing to announce next week, as soon as Tuesday, April 25 (the same date he made the announcement before the 2020 election, in which he beat Trump), that he will run for Democratic nomination. to the White House in 2024.
Asked about it this Friday, Harris confirmed that if Biden runs for re-election, she will accompany him as vice president.
