‘Ovaries!’ Kamala Harris and Abbott Elementary’s Sheryl Lee Ralph discuss reproductive rights in Montgomery County
“We’ve got to have these conversations out loud,” Ralph said. “Being a woman is not something to be ashamed of.”
Abbott Elementary star Sheryl Lee Ralph joined Vice President Kamala Harris in Montgomery County on Wednesday afternoon to discuss reproductive rights and the stakes of the 2024 election.
In a gymnasium at Salus University in Elkins Park, which specializes in health and science, the two women sat in front of a Biden-Harris campaign sign that said “Reproductive Freedom,” sandwiched between American and Pennsylvania flags.
They spoke about the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the country’s high maternal mortality rate and racial disparities within it, the Biden administration’s efforts to expand postpartum Medicaid care, Planned Parenthood, trusting women, and the stakes of the election contest between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
Harris and Ralph hit it off, and the vice president — who said the duo has long known each other — called the celebrity a “girl’s girl.”
Ralph is a Broadway star and Emmy-award winning actress who plays Mrs. Howard on Abbott Elementary, a mockumentary sitcom that is set in Philadelphia schools. She is married to State Sen. Vincent Hughes (D., Philadelphia) and spoke at the 2022 Bans Off Our Bodies rally in Harrisburg, as well as Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s January inauguration.
Wednesday’s visit marked the fifth time in five weeks that Harris led a campaign event focused on reproductive rights, according to the campaign, and marked her 13th visit to Pennsylvania — a critical swing state — since taking office. She visited Philadelphia last month to promote a student debt relief plan.
Harris told of visiting a reproductive health clinic and telling reporters she would be shamelessly naming parts of the reproductive system and blurted out “ovaries!” Ralph joined in, and they took turns shouting body parts such as “uterus!” and “fallopian tubes!”
“We’ve got to have these conversations out loud” Ralph said. “Being a woman is not something to be ashamed of. Listen, if a man can get Viagra, I need health care, too!”
Harris blamed Trump for the reversal of reproductive rights across the country because he appointed three conservative justices to the Supreme Court, who all voted to overturn Roe. Since the ruling, 21 states have enacted restrictions on abortion, and 14 of those states established full bans, according to the New York Times.
Ralph emphasized that Planned Parenthood, which is often a target for antiabortion conservatives, provides
other health care services to communities.
“They don’t go to these clinics just because they’ve been a ‘bad girl’ or a ‘naughty lady,’” Ralph said. “You go to clinics like this because you need health care.”
Harris argued that abortion bans show a distrust in women’s ability to make their own decisions.
“We just have to call it for what it is,” Harris said. “Do you not trust women to know what is in their best interest?”
After their conversation, “Freedom” by Jon Batiste blasted through speakers in the gymnasium.
Abortion rights has been a winning message for Democrats in Pennsylvania, such as in last year’s Supreme Court race when Justice Dan McCaffery, a Democrat, beat Republican candidate Carolyn Carluccio after campaigning almost exclusively on protecting abortion rights.
Biden spoke on abortion access and in vitro fertilization in Delaware County, the day after the State of the Union address.
Karoline Leavitt, a national press secretary for Trump’s campaign, criticized the Wednesday event in a statement.
“President Trump has long been consistent in supporting the rights of states to make decisions on abortion,” Leavitt said. “Joe Biden and the Democrats are radically out of touch with the majority of Americans in their support for abortion up until birth and even after birth, and forcing taxpayers to fund it.”
In Elkins Park, local Democratic elected officials underscored Harris’ message about the stakes of the election.
“It seems like each and every election cycle, my daughter’s future is hanging in the balance,” said State Sen. Amanda Cappelletti, who represents parts of Montgomery and Delaware Counties and was the first person to give birth while serving in the state Senate.