HOUSTON (AP) — Beyoncé told a packed stadium on Friday that it was time for America to elect Kamala Harris president, urging voters to “sing a new song,” before the vice president delivered a message to battleground voters all the way from reliably Republican Texas — that Donald Trump was dead set on eroding women’s rights.
“For all the men and women in this room, and watching around the country, we need you,” Beyoncé said.
The music megastar, who was joined by her mother, Tina Knowles, and her former bandmate Kelly Rowland, told the cheering crowd she wasn’t at the rally as a celebrity, or as a politician.
“I’m here as a mother,” Beyoncé said, talking about how her children would see “the sacrifices made so we can witness the strength of a woman … reimagining what leadership is.”
Harris came out to huge cheers. She told the crowd that Trump had erased half a century of hard-fought progress when he appointed the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade and touched off a healthcare crisis.
“For anyone watching from another state, if you think you are protected from Trump abortion bans because you live in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, New York, California, or any state where voters or legislators have protected reproductive freedom, please know: No one is protected,” she said. “Because a Donald Trump national ban will outlaw abortion in every single state.”
“All that to say, elections matter,” she said.
Harris listed off downstream effects she sees from various bans, such as “women having fewer options, fewer medical students choosing to specialize in women’s health.”
Her campaign said it was her largest rally to date; the crowd waited for hours, wearing flashing red, white and blue LED bracelets as “trust women” and “freedom” flashed on big screens between acts, as speakers highlighted the medical fallout from abortion restrictions.
She was joined at the rally by women who have nearly died from sepsis and other pregnancy complications because they were unable to get proper medical care, including women who never intended to end their pregnancies.
Some of them have already been out campaigning for Harris and others have told their harrowing tales in campaign ads that seek to show how the issue has ballooned into something far bigger than the right to end an unwanted pregnancy.
Since abortion was restricted in Texas, the state’s infant death rate has increased, more babies have died of birth defects and maternal mortality has risen.
With the presidential election in a dead heat, Harris is banking on abortion rights as a major driver for voters — including for Republican women, particularly since Trump appointed three of the Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn the constitutional right.
Trump has been inconsistent in his message to voters on abortion and reproductive rights, though he’s said he’d veto a national abortion ban. He has repeatedly shifted his stance and offered vague, contradictory and at times nonsensical answers to questions on an issue that has become a major vulnerability for Republicans in this year’s election.
Thousands excitedly lined up in anticipation for the vice president at her one and only campaign stop in the nation’s fourth largest city.
“Sometimes they forget about us because we’re a Republican state,” Rhonda Johnson, who has been living in Houston for 19 years, said. “But I’m glad she’s here.”
Reproductive rights, the economy and LGBTQ issues were key reasons for Yannick Djomatchoua in his decision to support Harris and wait in the hours-long line to see her. “It’s very personal,” he said, adding that he knew friends who had to make difficult decisions due to the state’s abortion restrictions.
Abortion rights was a key issue for 27-year-old Rhyle Lobo, too, who believes that having Beyoncé, a Houston native, will pump up enthusiasm for the vice president.
Harris’ campaign has taken on Beyoncé’s 2016 track “Freedom” as its anthem, and the message dovetails with the vice president’s emphasis on reproductive freedom. Harris was joined Friday by actress Jessica Alba, and Willie Nelson sang some of his greatest hits, including “On the Road Again.”
“Hey, how are y’all doing?” the 91-year-old Nelson asked the crowd. “Are we ready to say Madam President?”
They’re the latest stars to stump for Harris, including Lizzo, James Taylor, Spike Lee, Tyler Perry, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Springsteen and Eminem. While in Texas, Harris also taped a podcast with host Brené Brown.
Trump was also in Texas Friday, where he predicted he’d break records for the number of people deported from the United States if he wins the election. He taped a podcast with Joe Rogan.
There is some evidence to suggest that abortion rights may drive women to the polls as it did during the 2022 midterm elections. Voters in seven states, including some conservative ones, have either protected abortion rights or defeated attempts to restrict them in statewide votes over the past two years.
Democrats warn that a winnowing of rights and freedoms will only continue if Trump is elected. Republican lawmakers in states across the U.S. have been rejecting Democrats’ efforts to protect or expand access to birth control, for example.
“In America, freedom is not to be given. It is not to be bestowed. It is ours. By right. And that includes the fundamental freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own body and not have the government telling her what to do,” Harris will say, according to the prepared remarks.
Democrats also hope Harris’ visit will give a boost to Rep. Colin Allred, who is making a longshot bid to unseat Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Allred will appear at the rally with Harris, and in excerpts said if he is elected he’ll help codify reproductive rights.
When Roe was first overturned, Democrats initially focused on the new limitations on access to abortion to end unwanted pregnancies. But the same medical procedures used for abortions are used to treat miscarriages.
And increasingly, in 14 states with strict abortion bans, women cannot get medical care until their condition has become life-threatening. In some states, doctors can face criminal charges if they provide medical care.
About 6 in 10 Americans think their state should generally allow a person to obtain a legal abortion if they don’t want to be pregnant for any reason, according to a July poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Texas encapsulates the post-Roe landscape. Its strict abortion ban prohibits physicians from performing abortions once cardiac activity is detected, which can happen as early as six weeks or before.
As a result, women, including those who didn’t intend to end a pregnancy, are increasingly suffering worse medical care. That’s in part because doctors cannot intervene unless a woman is facing a life-threatening condition, or to prevent “substantial impairment of major bodily function.”
The state also has become a battleground for litigation. The U.S. Supreme Court weighed in on the side of the state’s ban just two weeks ago.
Complaints of pregnant women in medical distress being turned away from emergency rooms in Texas and elsewhere have spiked as hospitals grapple with whether standard care could violate strict state laws against abortion.
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Long reported from Washington and Lathan from Austin, Texas.