Opinion: Harris uses Texas to promote abortion – and peddle fear to suburban women voters

Nothing says joy like an abortion, am I right? If you cringed reading that, take it up with Vice President Kamala Harris.

On Friday, just 11 days from the election, the Democratic presidential nominee campaigned in Houston in part to boost the Democrat running for the Senate. But she wasn't here only for a Senate race.

By talking about abortion and basking in the fame of a celebrity or two, Harris tried to make an example of Texas while peddling a false narrative about joy and freedom to women.

I hope women see through this charade.

What are Harris and Trump doing in Texas?

Beyoncé, at a rally focused on abortion in her hometown of Houston, said it was time for "America to sing a new song" and elect Harris. Texas legend Willie Nelson and actress Jessica Alba also were there.

That same day, former President Donald Trump also visited Texas to record an episode of "The Joe Rogan Experience," the most-listened to podcast in the country.

Trump's appearance on Rogan's show is a sure sign that he knows he's ahead. Rogan may not be MAGA, but his listeners are. It's a smart, calculated play, and it shows confidence, not desperation.

It's an interesting choice for both candidates to visit Texas ? a red state where Republicans dominate federal and state offices ? for a final push.

The Democratic Party should be concerned that must-win states in the upper Midwest are slipping away from them. Trump shows a slight lead in polls from the battleground states, and it's a sliver that seems to be widening.

Yet, in some ways, the stop in Texas makes sense for both candidates. Democratic Rep. Colin Allred is vying for Republican Ted Cruz's Senate seat, and it's a surprisingly close race. Democrats would love to snatch the seat and claim that Texas, long a deep red state, is now purple.

Of course, Republicans need Cruz to win. For Republicans, giving up a Senate seat in Texas to a self-described moderate Democrat would be like Alabama conceding a football game to Auburn, or maybe losing a game against Vanderbilt. (OK, that happened, but it's rare.)

But there was much more to the stop in Texas for Harris than the Senate seat.

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Harris peddles fear to capture women's votes

Ever since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and sent decisions about how to regulate abortions back to the states, Democrats have spread fear to galvanize suburban women across the country.

A new set of Harris campaign ads describe how a Texas woman got sepsis following poor medical treatment after a miscarriage. The ad blames Texas' strict pro-life law that bans abortions unless the mother faces "a life-threatening physical condition aggravated by, caused by, or arising from a pregnancy.”

It's a narrative that paints Texas as a real-life version of "The Handmaid's Tale," a place where women have no rights and no freedom, and regularly die from pregnancy complications because they couldn't get an abortion.

The Associated Press' description of the ad is harrowing: "In one ad, the woman identified only as Ondrea details how excited she was to have a girl only to find out that the baby wouldn’t survive after her water broke too early. She was denied an abortion and eventually went into labor. 'Immediately after her birth, I was in the worst pain of my life,' she says, as she and her husband are pictured in her living room near a framed photo of the baby’s ultrasound. She then developed sepsis, a life-threatening pregnancy complication."

Harris released the ad about this woman in Texas to alarm other women elsewhere. Her warning is clear: Vote for me, suburban women in Atlanta, Detroit and Charlotte, because you'll end up like women in Texas if you don't.

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I am a conservative woman and a mother living in Texas, and I am pro-life. But I did take issue with aspects of Texas' abortion law, which went into effect in September 2021.

I was specifically concerned about the vague wording of "medical emergency" in the statute. No pregnant woman should die because doctors failed to provide medical care because they were worried they would be sued or penalized for violating the state's abortion ban.

But clarifications have been made since the law was enacted. In August 2023, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill that allows doctors to perform abortions in cases of ectopic pregnancy or when a mother's water breaks early. It also provides a defense for doctors from lawsuits and criminal penalties.

This June, the Texas Medical Board adopted guidance that clarifies that for an abortion to be allowed under the law, a pregnant woman's death does not need to be imminent.

According to a report from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, doctors reported performing 52 abortions in 2023 under the medical exceptions.

Even so, these facts may sound draconian to a generation of women who were told until recently that they could have an abortion on demand and be proud of it.

While the Texas statute is imperfect, a law that attempts to save women and save babies is pro-life, pro-woman and pro-family.

Harris promotes a false narrative about abortion

Despite the message of Harris' ad, most women don't have abortions because their lives are at risk or their unborn babies have a life-threatening disease. They have abortions because their pregnancies are unplanned. They don't want a baby to interfere with their lives.

I feel for women who seek an abortion because they feel they have no other choice and for those who are consumed with grief after it.

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Pro-life laws are not perfect, but they seek to preserve babies and mothers. Republican leaders have improved considerably over the years in offering tangible resources to help mothers with unplanned pregnancies, so both mom and baby can be happy and stable. Texas has, too.

Harris stopped in Texas to promote the lie that life was better when abortion was readily available.

That lie is built atop another lie: that when Roe mandated legal abortions throughout America, women were more free and more joyful.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Nicole Russell is an opinion columnist with USA TODAY. She lives in Texas with her four kids. Sign up for her newsletter, The Right Track, and get it delivered to your inbox.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Opinion: Harris uses Beyoncé endorsement to sell voters abortion lie