Mary Vought
While electing the first woman to a nationwide office serves as an important milestone, Harris’s policy positions themselves provide little comfort to women. On numerous issues, Harris will undermine, rather than advance, causes that are important to women.
Take, for instance, Harris’s support for the Equality Act. This legislation, which adds gender identity and sexual orientation as protected categories to the Civil Rights Act, would be bad for those born biologically female. If enacted, the Equality Act would functionally give individuals born biologically male federal approval to enter sporting competitions previously reserved for those born biologically female. It could also subject parents who prohibit their underage children from undergoing gender transition procedures to potential civil rights enforcement actions.
Additionally, Harris’s position on abortion allows for the ending of the lives of millions of women not yet born. During the Democratic presidential primaries, Harris attacked Biden as insufficiently pro-abortion because, for decades, he opposed taxpayer-funded abortion, though he has since changed his position. Harris supports passing a federal law that, by requiring states to get preclearance for any limitations or regulations on abortion, would effectively block states from imposing safety restrictions on abortion clinics, placing mothers at risk.
These policies would be most harmful to low-income families and minority communities. Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control show that in 2018, African American women and Hispanic women got abortions at rates 3.4 times and 1.7 times that of white women, respectively. In New York City in 2018, 21,145 children were born to non-Hispanic black women, while 17,252 were aborted. Removing safety restrictions on abortion and solidifying taxpayer funding of abortion would accelerate the demise of a generation of children.
Beyond that, the lucky children who escape abortion in the womb won’t have the best educational options if Harris has her way. She has publicly opposed opportunity scholarship programs that allow low-income students to attend the school of their choice. Even as Harris attacked President Biden last year on the issue of desegregation and busing, her own policies would keep many low-income children stuck in failing schools.
Finally, Harris has also committed to decriminalizing prostitution. She claims that “we can’t criminalize consensual behavior as long as no one is being harmed.” Of course, the many women trafficked to participate in sex work, both domestically and internationally, would consider themselves harmed by prostitution. Decriminalizing prostitution won’t just encourage sex trafficking overseas, but it will also lead more women to enter an industry that inflicts untold psychological and physical harm on them.
Harris’s agenda will be bad for all categories of women, from collegiate athletes seeking to compete on a level playing field to mothers seeking to ensure their children will receive a quality education, from those caught up in sexual exploitation to millions of unborn children.
While her election to the vice presidency represents a personal step forward for Harris, the policies she seeks to impose on America will set women back.