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Kamala Heads to Alabama After Blasting Alabamians

A week after saying "folks" in Alabama "couldn't care less" about babies once they're born, Sen. Kamala Harris (D., Calif.) is headed to the southern state to campaign with a pro-abortion group and headline a Democratic event.

Harris took aim at Alabama during a Planned Parenthood event at the California Democratic Convention last weekend. She said Alabamians who support restrictions on abortion "couldn't care less" about children once they're out of the womb.

"Those folks down in Alabama who are doing this, these are the same folks who, by the time that baby is born, they couldn't care less," Harris said. "What are they doing to support that mother and what she needs in terms of prenatal help? They're not doing a thing, but they're trying to tell women what to do with their bodies."

"We're going to tell them a thing or two," Harris told the California crowd.

Harris will get her chance this weekend when her campaign travels to the state for multiple events, including a Friday night meet and greet hosted by pro-abortion political group NARAL. On Saturday she will keynote a luncheon at the black caucus of the Alabama Democratic Party's annual convention.

Republican congressman Bradley Byrne took issue with Harris's characterization of Alabama's pro-life community and advised her to focus on problems in her own state.

"I'm sick of out-of-state liberal elitists trying to lecture us here in Alabama," Byrne told the Free Beacon. "I'm proud our state is leading the fight to protect the unborn, and we don't need liberal politicians like Senator Harris telling us how to run our state or what to believe."

"Instead of launching attacks on our state, these liberal elites should take care of the very serious issues in their own backyards and leave Alabama alone," said Byrne, who launched his Senate run earlier this year and is endorsed by President Donald Trump.

The Harris campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Alabama drew the ire of abortion supporters in May when it enacted legislation to limit abortions to cases in which the life of the mother is at risk, and to punish abortionists who violate the law with up to 99 years in prison.

Harris has long been a close ally of Planned Parenthood. When undercover videographers published videos detailing the abortion industry's organ harvesting trade, Harris, then California's attorney general, reacted to the scandal by investigating the videographers, who now face 15 criminal charges.

Harris's campaign also currently employs the daughter of Cecile Richards, who at the time of the videos was Planned Parenthood's president.

An Alabama poll by Pew Research Center found a large majority of adults in the state, 58 percent, believe abortion should be illegal in all or most cases. The view was held by a majority of both men and women in the state.

Alabama will vote in the Democratic presidential primary next March. Harris is currently polling third in the state, behind former vice president Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.).

Trump carried Alabama by about 30 points in 2016, but the state is a major part of the 2020 political battleground because of last year's special election win by Democratic senator Doug Jones, who will be back on the ballot next year.

Byrne, who has represented his Alabama district since 2014, has won the support of Republicans, including Trump, who believe he has the best chance to regain the seat from Jones.

Leadership of the Alabama Democratic Party's black caucus did not respond to a request for comment on Harris's visit.