Kamala Harris on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast: 5 takeaways from the interview

In a highly anticipated appearance on the popular Call her dad In the podcast, Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris had a candid conversation with host Alex Cooper.

The episode, released Sunday, covered a wide range of topics, from reproductive rights to personal attacks.

Here are five key takeaways from the interview:

Unwavering stance on abortion rights

Harris discussed the current state of abortion access in America.

“One in three women in our country live in states with abortion bans,” she said, describing the challenges women in those states, especially mothers, face.

Harris added: “Imagine she’s in a state with an abortion ban and she’s a mother. So she has to figure out: God help her if she has affordable child care, God help her if she has paid vacation, and then.” She has to go to the airport, stand in a TSA line, sit next to someone on a plane Sitting with complete strangers, traveling to a city she’s never been to to get the care she needs.”

The vice president emphasized that reproductive health clinics provide essential services beyond abortions. “Do you know what these clinics also do? They do paps, they do breast cancer screenings, they do HIV testing and they are having to close in many places because of these bans,” she noted.

Harris also addressed late-term abortion claims made by former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, calling them “a blatant face lie” and “egregiously inaccurate.”

“This is not happening anywhere in the United States. “It’s so insulting to suggest that this would happen and that women would do this,” the vice president said.

Newsweek Trump spokesman Steven Cheung emailed Sunday for comment.

Harris emphasized her commitment to reproductive rights, declaring, “I was the first vice president or president ever to visit a reproductive health center while in office.”

Regarding the changing perspectives on abortion, Harris noted: “What I find when I travel is people who, two years ago, ago Roe V. Wade was overthrown, people who felt very strongly that they were anti-abortion, anti-abortion, are now seeing what’s happening and saying, “Hmm, I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

She concluded by emphasizing the importance of personal choice in healthcare decisions: “You don’t have to give up your faith or deeply held beliefs to consent. The government shouldn’t tell her what to do. If she chooses to do it, she will. “Speak to her priest, her pastor, her rabbi, her imam, but not the government who will tell you what to do and that’s the outrageous thing about it.”

Your decision to be childless and respond to this “humble” comment

Harris responded to Arkansas Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ comments that the vice president has “nothing to keep her humble” because she doesn’t have children.

Harris responded, “I feel sorry for her and I’ll tell you why, because I don’t think she understands that there are a whole lot of women out here who, one, don’t strive to be modest, two, holistically.” “There are a lot of women out here who have a lot of love in their life, a family in their life and children in their life, and I think it’s very important for women to encourage each other.”

Harris later spoke about her own family situation: “I have two beautiful children, Cole and Ella, who call me Mamala. We have a very modern family.”

She also explained her approach to blended families: “My husband’s ex-wife is a friend of mine and I’m also a child of divorced parents, and when I started dating Doug, my husband, I was very thoughtful and sensitive “To be sure.” Unless I knew our relationship was real, I didn’t want to develop a relationship with the children and then walk away from that relationship.

Student Loan Forgiveness and Economic Problems

Harris acknowledged the financial hurdles young Americans face, particularly when it comes to housing and family planning.

“We are fighting and I will continue to fight for student debt relief,” she said, adding that the government has already forgiven millions of people’s student loan debt, “including doubling the amount of student loan forgiveness for civil servants like nurses and teachers and firefighters.” .

On housing affordability, Harris said, “Part of my plan is to work with homebuilders in the private sector to create tax incentives to build three million more housing units by the end of my first term.”

The vice president also proposed “down payment assistance of $25,000 for first-time home buyers” and tax credits for middle-class families, including “a $6,000 tax break for the first year of their child’s life.”

About sexual abuse and making women safer in America

Harris emphasized the importance of open dialogue about sexual abuse.

“Part of the problem is that people don’t talk about it. I don’t mean the survivors; I mean, nobody does. And the more we let something exist in the shadows, the more likely people are to do it. “We suffer and suffer in silence, and we need to talk about it,” she explained.

She added: “Child sexual assault affects many more people than the public discourse about it acknowledges, and the more we talk about it, the more we will address it and deal with it, the better prepared we will be,” in In relation to schools, in relation to society as a whole and not to stigmatize them.

Harris also addressed economic factors in abusive situations, saying, “If a woman, especially if she has children, is economically dependent on her abuser, she is less likely to leave because most women have to endure any personal, physical pain.” “that they have to endure to ensure that their children have a roof over their heads and food.”

The vice president also responded to Trump’s claims about protecting women at a campaign rally in September. Casting himself as a “protector” of women, the former president said in the battleground state of Pennsylvania that he would protect all women from “fear” and “loneliness” so they no longer have to consider abortion.

Harris replies: “So he, as president, personally selected three members of the Supreme Court of the United States with the intention that they would remove the protections of.” Roe V. Wade and they did exactly what he intended and there are now 20 states with Trump abortion bans, including bans that make no exceptions for rape or incest, which is what we just discussed, which means you are imposing a crime on a survivor “You have no right to decide what happens next to your body, which is immoral.”

About “Cat Ladies” and personal attacks from the right

When asked about various attacks on her character by political opponents, including Trump’s vice presidential running mate Ohio Sen. JD Vance’s comments about “childless cat ladies,” Harris remained resolute. “I think it’s really important not to let others define you. And usually the people who try to do that don’t know you,” she explained.

Harris addressed those comments head-on, saying, “I just think it’s mean and nasty. And I think that most Americans want leaders who understand that the measure of their strength is not by who you defeat, but by the actual measure of the strength of whom. “A leader is based on who you promote.”

Newsweek Harris’ campaign also emailed Harris for comment on Sunday.