It is likely that the presidential election will be decided in Pennsylvania, and I am part of the demographic that may tip the scales in either direction. As a white, suburban, middle-class professional and mom residing in Chester County, Pennsylvania, Democrats and Republicans are courting and counting on my vote. 

This is a multi-part series that will focus on my insights about Kamala Harris and the policies that she has embraced as Vice President and the policies she will likely bring as President. I will explore topics such as abortion, the economy, Title IX, education, energy, and immigration.

Parts one and two of the series, in case you missed it.

Part Three — The conundrum of womanhood

While Kamala Harris has dubbed herself the champion of women’s reproductive rights, she has stripped away protections and equal opportunities for women and girls with the rewrite of Title IX. Part three of this series focuses on Harris’s antithetical positions on Title IX and abortion, and how her policies really do not support women.

The Biden-Harris administration and members of their political party literally cannot or refuse to define the term “woman.” Yet when it comes to abortion, remarkably, Harris seems to understand that only women are capable of getting pregnant and carrying a baby. Her campaign website says, “Vice President Harris and Governor Walz trust women to make decisions about their own bodies, and not have the government tell them what to do.” [emphasis added]

Her policy positions are literally an oxymoron for women. If only women can get pregnant, then why is it so hard to define the term, ‘woman’? Her policy statement does not say that they trust ‘people’ to make decisions about their own bodies. Of course not — it would be stupid because only women can get pregnant and, therefore, have abortions.

Hence, the conundrum for women. Harris claims to support women’s rights, particularly their reproductive rights, but she clearly does not support their rights to privacy or equal opportunities.

Her diametrically opposed policies simply make no sense. And for this reason and many others, I cannot support Kamala just because she is a woman. 

The Biden-Harris administration’s record on supporting women is incredibly weak. Within the first 100 days of taking office, they issued Executive Order 13988 to “prevent and combat discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.” 

That was the beginning of dismantling women’s rights  — simply changing the word sex to include gender identity. 

This order, the precursor to the Title IX changes, basically held schools hostage and threatened their free lunch program if they did not allow children to use the bathroom according to their gender identity. Schools had to decide between feeding poor children or protecting girls’ privacy and safety.

Following the executive order, the Biden-Harris administration continued its systematic destruction of opportunities and protections for women, despite their proclamation of Women’s Equality Day last month. It is ironic that the proclamation was issued the same month that the new Title IX regulations went into effect.

Title IX was enacted in 1972 to guarantee women and girls equal opportunity and access under the law to programs that receive federal funding. It was intended to ensure that women and girls have equal athletic opportunities and equal access to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses, in addition to protections against sex-based harassment and sexual violence.

Harris and I both benefited greatly from Title IX. Yet, the Biden-Harris administration single-handedly dismantled 52 years of progress for women and girls with their rewrite of the regulations that went into effect last month.

Despite multiple federal court injunctions blocking the implementation in many states and schools across the country due to the potential unconstitutionality of the rewrite, Biden and Harris double-downed and pushed through the changes.

Harris believes that gender is fluid and that any man or boy with a penis who wants to use the girls’ or women’s room should be allowed to do so. This belief was codified into regulation last month. Women and girls have lost the right to privacy and safety in bathrooms in schools. In many schools across the country, girls and women are forced to compete unfairly against men in sports.

And if elected to the presidency, Harris will further take away the rights of women. The recently released issues section of her campaign website says, “As President, she’ll fight to pass the Equality Act to enshrine anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQI+ Americans in health care, housing, education, and more into law.”

This Act, if passed, will further rob girls and women of their rights, privacy, and access to opportunities.

Harris cares more about the rights of transgender prisoners than she does about women. When she was running for president in 2019, she said on an ACLU questionnaire that she supported the use of tax dollars for gender transition surgeries for both prisoners and illegal immigrants. “I support policies ensuring that federal prisoners and detainees are able to obtain medically necessary care for gender transition, including surgical care, while incarcerated or detained.”

This is sheer lunacy. Too many women and girls are compelled to feel uncomfortable in bathrooms and locker rooms, but our tax dollars should pay for gender transition surgeries for people who committed crimes and went to prison?

Abortion

Kamala, like most Democrat politicians, is counting on the abortion issue to push her over the top. She is the only Vice President or President in U.S. History to visit an abortion clinic and has been lauded by the media as a champion for women’s reproductive rights.

And to be fair, there are parts of her policy that I agree with. As a former Democrat, I was a single-issue voter for many years. I voted for Democrats because I was concerned about my options as a woman.

Fundamentally, I still hold the same beliefs. I believe that generally, these are decisions between a woman and her doctor; however, I disagree with Harris that the government should pay for these decisions.

I also disagree with the Harris-Walz team that abortions should be legal under any circumstances up to birth. As a lifelong Democrat, I never supported no-exception abortion. There is a point in development when a fetus becomes a baby, and while I am under no illusion that people will all agree on when that happens, I think that many will agree that it does happen at some point.

As the champion of women’s reproductive rights, Kamala has been asked where her line is. At what point in development is abortion acceptable? She has evaded the question.

At the debate, when Trump asked Harris whether she would allow abortions in the seventh, eighth, or ninth month, she said, “come on.” Then she said “that is not true” about performing abortions in the seventh, eighth, and ninth months.

Similar to most of her policies, Harris is cagey and doesn’t have definitive answers. However, a look at her running mate’s record on the issue provides some insights that she is unwilling to state publicly.

Following the reversal of Roe v. Wade, Walz signed a bill that guarantees abortion as a fundamental right under the state constitution. Minnesota was the first state to codify abortion through legislative action following the reversal.

The law guarantees a woman’s access to abortion with no exceptions and includes $1.78 billion in funding for a variety of health-related services. The bill signed and praised by Walz also eliminated written informed consent and a mandatory 24-hour waiting period prior to an abortion. Additionally, the bill eliminated the requirement that state-mandated printed information be provided prior to certain reproductive health care services.

Finally, the bill modifies “the ‘born alive’ infant provision to clarify an infant who is born alive will require care consistent with good medical practice, not necessarily life-preserving efforts.” The “born alive” provision refers to a baby born despite an attempted abortion.

Walz’s bill clearly supports abortion in the seventh, eighth, and ninth months of pregnancy and possibly post birth following a botched abortion. The White House applauded the bill, and Harris subsequently kicked off a “Nationwide Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” tour.

While Harris avoids answering questions about her position on late-term abortions, her choice in running mate indicates what she supports.

As I explained earlier, I am primarily pro-choice, but I have clear exceptions. Late-term abortions unless the mother’s life is in danger are not acceptable to me. Abortion should not be used as a form of contraception, and not providing life-preserving efforts to a child who was born as a result of an unsuccessful abortion is absolutely abhorrent.

Harris, of all people, should understand the concept of changing one’s mind or flip-flopping on issues. If she truly supports women and their rights, then she should insist on providing information to help guide a life-changing decision.

And yet, she does not. Harris does not care about women’s safety or privacy in school and sports, and she doesn’t actually trust women enough to make decisions with accurate information or a waiting period.

Kamala and her party can’t even define what a woman is, so how can she legitimately support us?

Beth Ann Rosica resides in West Chester, has a Ph.D. in Education, and has dedicated her career to advocating on behalf of at-risk children and families. She covers education issues for Broad + Liberty. Contact her at barosica@broadandliberty.com.