Pro-life activists criticized presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden on Tuesday for choosing Sen. Kamala Harris (D., Calif.) as his running mate because of Harris's ardent support of abortion.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, pointed to Harris's ongoing legal conflict with undercover journalist David Daleiden as evidence of her abortion "extremism." When Daleiden publicly exposed that abortionists sold harvested body parts from babies, then-state attorney general Harris launched an investigation into the journalists. Dannenfelser said the move was motivated by Harris's war chest and the thousands she had collected from abortion lobbyists.
"Kamala Harris is an extremist who supports abortion on demand through birth, paid for by taxpayers, and even infanticide," Dannenfelser said in a statement. "It is no surprise Joe Biden chose such an extremist as his running mate."
Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life, said in a statement that the Biden-Harris ticket is "perhaps the most pro-abortion in history."
Biden's selection of Harris comes after a contentious primary race between the two candidates. Harris criticized Biden during a 2019 primary debate for changing his long-standing support for the Hyde Amendment, which bars federal taxpayer dollars from paying for abortions.
"On the Hyde Amendment, vice president, where you made a decision for years to withhold resources to poor women to have access to reproductive health care, including women who were the victims of rape and incest, do you now say that you have evolved and you regret that?" Harris asked Biden. She criticized him for only changing his position when he started his current presidential run.
After the September primary debate, Harris drew attention to abortion rights by tweeting that the debate did not involve any questions regarding abortion. At the next debate, Harris criticized states that have passed abortion reform, saying "women will die" because of the limitations.
She also proposed a reproductive rights bill modeled on the Voting Rights Act that would require states that passed legislation restricting access to abortion to get approval from the Justice Department.
Biden has promised to codify abortion rights into law if elected president. "I would send immediately to the desk of the United States Congress when I'm elected, if I'm elected president, a codification of Roe v. Wade amended by Casey," he said.