With Republican Vice Presidential Nominee J.D. ‘Mr. National Abortion Ban,’ ‘Women should stay in abusive marriages,’ and ‘Childless Women are Cat Ladies’ Vance about to tour the MAGA-Christian White Nationalist-Project 2025 friendly parts of the Grand Canyon State, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes headlined an early Wednesday Harris for Arizona afternoon panel on protecting Reproductive Freedom and getting rid of what Vice President Harris calls “The Trump Abortion Bans” at the Short Leash Hotdogs and Taproom in Phoenix.
The other panelists were Arizona Campaign Reproductive Freedom Director and former State Representative Athena Salman, Reproductive Freedom for All President Mini Timmaraju, and Texas Abortion Ban Survivor and Mother Kaitlyn Kash.
Phoenix Councilwoman Keisha Hodge introduced the panelists, who commented in her opening remarks that “the momentum is infectious” for the surging Harris for President Campaign. She also said to the audience’s approval, “Arizona’s going blue, right.”
Pointing out to the audience that “the Supreme Court can follow the ideology of the person that appoints them, so we now more than ever need to ensure that Vice President Harris is our choice,” the Councilwoman also reminded everyone that Mr. Trump thought the overturn of Roe v Wade “was a wonderful thing.”
She also blasted Mr. Vance, saying “He isn’t healthy” and he had better not call her, a single person, “A Cat Lady.”
Saying that “Vice President Kamala Harris has led that charge (to restore Roe v Wade,) Hodge told the audience “And if we want to ensure that we don’t go back to what it was in 1864, we need to show up and make sure that our we need to make sure that our community goes and votes.”
She closed by getting the audience to answer yes out loud to several questions including “Do you believe in reproductive freedom.”
Hodge then turned it over to Athena Salman who moderated the panel.
In her opening remarks, the former Representative said:
“If Donald Trump and their Project 2025 agenda advances, it will ban abortion Nationwide. And they will do this with or without the help of Congress...So the stakes are high for women in Arizona, but the stakes are high for women and pregnant people everywhere because, at the end of the day, the anti-abortion (crusade)that Donald Trump and J.D. Vance are leading don’t want it to just be in the 22 States (that currently have a ban.) They want it to be everywhere in the country.”
Part of those remarks were captured on social media:
Later during the event, crying after hearing Kash’s description of her events and remembering what had happened to Arizona women, Ms. Salman said those events had “broken her heart” and “We owe it to them to send Kamala Harris to the White House.”
Salman then asked Mini Timmaraju for her insights.
The Reproductive Freedom for All President said:
“We knew in 2017 when we lost that race and when Donald Trump became president that we were on this path. Right? We were on the road. So not everyone in America believed it.”
Recounting what was going on in the Texas State Government where civil liberties and basic rights have been attacked and reduced for a longer period than what has been happening in Arizona or at the United States Supreme Court, she introduced Kris Mayes.
Later, during a side question and answer session, Ms. Timmaraju responded to my question on her organization’s efforts to flip the State Legislature to Democratic control.
“So we have so much energy and momentum in the state. You know, our organization Reproductive Freedom for All in Arizona has organizers on the ground. We’ve been already canvasing the toughest neighborhoods in the region: Independents and Conservatives. Spanish language communities. We’ve got ads up in English and Spanish and we’re doing direct voter contact to make sure we’re educating voters on the stakes. The legislature is such a perfect example, we had such a narrow margin, to repeal that territorial ban. We know we have an opportunity. We’re just four seats away to take back. So our members are fired up. We’ve got a lot of eyes on Arizona and I think there’s a lot of synergy between the ballot measure effort and the candidates running for legislature.”
The Arizona Attorney General started off by relaying:
“I have made fighting for reproductive rights and justice a hallmark of my Administration and we did that going all the way back to the campaign and remember that it was in the middle of the 2022 campaign that the United States Supreme Court that was packed by Donald J Trump overturned Roe versus Wade in the Dobbs decision And it was at that moment that that moment really supercharged I think a lot our campaigns and really, brought clarity for all of us.”
She recounted the fight to repeal the 1864 Abortion Ban that the Arizona Supreme Court validated last winter and expressed hope “That Arizonans will never have to hopefully ever live under that 1864 ban again…So much is at stake and we now have a ballot initiative. So we all are working our hearts out to get that ballot initiative passed in November and send a strong message that Arizonans reject abortion bans and rejects Donald J Trump and JD Vance’s attempts to control our bodies once again.”
Ms. Mayes also reaffirmed that she would never prosecute a woman for getting an abortion or a doctor who performed it. She also warned Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell that she “would stop her in court” if she tried to prosecute anyone involved with the medical procedure.
The Attorney General then recounted her personal experiences of utilizing IVF to conceive a child in her forties and reminded the audience that in J.D. Vance’s and Donald Trump’s world view, that procedure (around since the late 1970s) could be outlawed.
Part of those comments were captured on social media as well.
In her closing remarks, she said, “So I got a message for you too JD Vance. We’re going to defeat you. Kamla Harris is going to defeat you in your crazy ideas once and for all in November.”
Later in the panel’s question and answer session, Ms. Mayes told the audience about the call she received from the Vice President after the Arizona State Supreme Court reinstituted the 1864 Civil War Era abortion ban and Ms. Harris telling her “How awful that decision was and she said to me, Attorney General Mayes, whatever you need. Whatever you need. Let me and President Biden know and you’ll have it to fight that decision.”
The last panelist, Kaitlyn Kash, sadly described her experiences with a necessary abortion and two miscarriages in Texas.
Starting with “I am going to share my story about what the Nationwide abortion ban will look like,” Ms. Kash told of the horror of finding out that the baby she was carrying (her second child) had a lethal genetic fetal abnormality that made the unborn child unviable.
Unfortunately, because of the Texas Abortion Ban, she, with her physician’s recommendation, had to travel out of state to terminate the pregnancy.
It gets worse for Ms. Kash and her family. After miscarrying during a third pregnancy, her pharmacy refused to give her a prescription that would ensure her fertility.
She then had a second miscarriage. Afterward, she resorted to IVF to have a successful pregnancy and birth of her daughter. However, there were medical complications where she lost “half her blood volume” during the removal of her placenta and while the surgeons saved her uterus.
Commenting on her experiences, Ms. Kash said:
“I’m not here today to not just talk about my Injustice. I’m here today because my story will become more and more of a people’s reality. If Trump and J.D. Vance get into the White House… my two-year experience, with every facet of reproductive care, will become more and more people’s reality.”
She also expressed gratitude that Arizona has Attorney General Kris Mayes because in Texas, their lunatic A.G., Ken Paxton has a history of threatening doctors with arrest and hospitals with closure if they perform an abortion.
But Ms. Kash also warned that “If Trump is elected president. He can override your state’s protection and enact a nationwide abortion ban.”
Later during a panel question and answer session, Ms. Kash said “What’s at stake this November is your life and your daughters.”
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