Abortion rights take center stage as first lady Jill Biden campaigns in Millvale

First lady Jill Biden, in her second campaign appearance this month in the Pittsburgh region, attacked Republicans and former President Donald Trump, saying this fall’s election could put abortion access and women’s rights at risk in Pennsylvania and throughout the country.

Speaking to several hundred invited supporters at Mr. Smalls in Millvale, she called out Trump and Republicans as the Biden campaign seeks to put abortion rights in the spotlight two years after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, a decision that paved the way for states to implement abortion bans.

Monday is the two-year anniversary of the ruling.

“Radical Republicans are sacrificing the health, freedom and future of women in the name of a political agenda, and that’s why we are here today. My husband, President Biden, has always been a champion for women,” Biden said.

Her swing through Pennsylvania this weekend comes as the Biden campaign looks to highlight the abortion issue six months before the general election, with Pennsylvania once again targeted as a key swing state in the rematch with Trump. Abortion rights figures to be among the key issues, and the first lady made to two appearances in the state on Sunday, with a trip earlier in the afternoon to Lancaster County. A visit to Philadelphia is planned for Monday.

She made an earlier June appearance to speak about LGBTQ rights at the Pittsburgh Pride festival and last year made a speech in support of the president’s economic agenda at an event at Pittsburgh International Airport.

Trump held a campaign rally Saturday in Philadelphia.

The focus on Pennsylvania comes as the president continues to suffer from low approval ratings in the state. A Marist College poll from early June showed Trump leading Biden 47% to 45% among Pennsylvania voters.

Both the Biden and Trump events this weekend came days before the first presidential debate of the general election season, which is scheduled for Thursday night.

Sunday’s event, dubbed Women for Biden-Harris, focused on the differences between the Biden and Trump agendas.

“Here’s the thing about Trump. He underestimates our power, the power of women. He sees empathy and compassion as weakness. He doesn’t get that empathy and compassion gives clarity to fight for what’s right. He thinks that our love for our families and our communities makes us soft, but we know our families light a fire in our hearts that makes us fearless and unafraid,” Biden said.

“He doesn’t know when our daughters lives are on the line and our daughters futures are at stake we are unmovable and we are unstoppable. Women put Joe Biden in the White House and women are going to keep him there because, Donald Trump is dangerous to our country. We cannot let him win. We cannot sit by while our freedoms slip away,” Biden said.

Appearing with Biden was Hadley Duvall, a 22-year-old Kentucky woman, who as a 12-year-old was sexually assaulted and impregnated by her then-stepfather, who was eventually convicted and imprisoned. Duvall suffered a miscarriage and over the past year and has advocated in support of easing her home state’s abortion restrictions.

She first went public with her story during last year’s gubernatorial election in Kentucky, a state that has enacted an abortion ban that carries no exceptions for rape or incest. She said she fears the implementation of similar bans throughout the country during a second Trump term.