With the notable exception of NBC Nightly News, the evening network newscasts fell over themselves to promote the historic nature of Vice President Kamala Harris’ visit to a Minnesota Planned Parenthood clinic- the first of its kind by a sitting president or vice president. The exuberance at the executive cosigning of the continued slaughter of the unborn was quite palpable.
Of these, the most exuberant is, as expected, ABC. Here’s a segment from correspondent Rachel Scott’s report- a master class in Biden apple-polishing:
RACHEL SCOTT: Tonight, Kamala Harris making history as the first vice president to visit a women's health clinic where abortions are provided, a sign of just how central this issue has become to the Biden campaign.
KAMALA HARRIS: And walking through this clinic, that's what I saw. Are people who have dedicated their lives to the profession of providing health care in a safe place, that gives people dignity. And I think we should all want that for each other.
SCOTT: 21 states have banned or restricted access to abortion since the Supreme Court overturned Roe versus Wade. The Minnesota Planned Parenthood clinic Harris visited says they've seen a nearly 100% increase in patients coming in from other parts of the country.
HARRIS: How dare these elected leaders believe they are in a better position to tell women what they need? To tell women what is in their best interest? We have to be a nation that trusts women.
ABC was most on-message from a Biden propaganda standpoint, mentioning the overturning of Roe v. Wade FOUR TIMES within a two-minute report. Additionally, Rachel Scott highlighted the disgraceful moment wherein President Joe Biden attacked the Supreme Court during his State of the Union address.
CBS took a different tack, acting more as Planned Parenthood comms than Biden campaign comms, focusing on the “healthcare crisis” aspect of the event’s messaging, and getting reactions both from the head “doctor” at the facility, and the governor of Minnesota.
Univision and Telemundo both ran items on the visit by Vice President Harris, known by some within the Hispanic community as Qué Mala Harris. In contrast with the fluffery of ABC and CBS, the Spanish-language networks got in and out in under 20 seconds- public relations briefs instead of campaign events. Of these, and shocking no one whatsoever, Univision’s is the most egregious.
NOTICIERO UNIVISION:
ILIA CALDERON: Vice President Kamala Harris visited a Planned Parenthood clinic that performs abortions in Minnesota. No President of the United States has ever visited this type of clinic, and Harris is the first vice president to do so. The White House and the Democratic Party promote the protection of women’s reproductive rights.
NOTICIAS TELEMUNDO:
JULIO VAQUEIRO: Today, Vice President Kamala Harris toured an abortion clinic in Minnesota. This is the first visit by a president or vice president to an abortion clinic in the nation’s history. Proof of the importance that President Biden’s campaign assigns to reproductive rights, a key issue for many voters ahead of the November elections.
That’s four of the five major network evening newscasts that parroted the Biden campaign’s elevation of unrestricted abortion on demand as a campaign issue. NBC, to their credit, sat this one out.
Click “expand” to view the aforementioned reports as aired on their respective evening newscasts on Thursday, March 14th, 2024:
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT:
We turn now to the race for president, and tonight, Vice President Kamala Harris, the first vice president to ever visit a Planned Parenthood that provides abortions, telling voters, women's reproductive rights, abortion rights, are on the ballot this presidential election. And tonight here, what's happened, even in conservative states, when the issue of abortion has been put on the ballot after Roe went down. Here's ABC's Rachel Scott tonight.
RACHEL SCOTT: Tonight, Kamala Harris making history as the first vice president to visit a women's health clinic where abortions are provided, a sign of just how central this issue has become to the Biden campaign.
KAMALA HARRIS: And walking through this clinic, that's what I saw. Are people who have dedicated their lives to the profession of providing health care in a safe place, that gives people dignity. And I think we should all want that for each other.
SCOTT: 21 states have banned or restricted access to abortion since the Supreme Court overturned Roe versus Wade. The Minnesota Planned Parenthood clinic Harris visited says they've seen a nearly 100% increase in patients coming in from other parts of the country.
HARRIS: How dare these elected leaders believe they are in a better position to tell women what they need? To tell women what is in their best interest? We have to be a nation that trusts women.
SCOTT: Democrats keenly aware voters have moved to protect abortion rights in all six states where it has appeared on the ballot since Roe versus Wade was overturned, including conservative states like Kansas, Kentucky, and Ohio. In his State of the Union speech, President Biden noting that, in the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe, the justices themselves wrote: “women are not without political power”.
JOE BIDEN: You're about to realize just how much you were right about that.
SCOTT: The president is counting on abortion to drive voters to the polls this November. As many as 14 states could have measures related to abortion or reproductive rights on the ballot. Among them: Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Arizona. Battleground states that could decide this election. As the nation's first female vice president, Harris has been the leading voice on reproductive rights for the Biden administration. David, she's been going state to state, hoping to rally Democratic voters around this issue. David.
MUIR: Rachel Scott, covering the race for president for us. Rachel, thank you.
CBS EVENING NEWS:
NORAH O’DONNELL: Vice President Kamala Harris today became the first sitting vice president or president to visit an abortion clinic. The Biden campaign hopes that putting reproductive rights front and center this election cycle, it’ll motivate voters to go to the polls. CBS's Nancy Cordes reports tonight from Minnesota.
KAMALA HARRIS: The reporter said, “well, you’ve made history”, I guess again, because, you know, I did. [Laughter and applause]
NANCY CORDES: The vice president made history with a half hour private tour of an unassuming spot: A Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Paul.
HARRIS: The reason I’m here is because this is a health care crisis.
CORDES: The clinic has seen a 25% surge in abortions since two neighboring states, along with several others, enacted full abortion bans.
HARRIS: And Doctor, please.
CORDES: Dr. Sarah Traxler is the chief medical officer.
SARAH TRAXLER: Our new abortion landscape is difficult. It is dangerous. And it is putting my patients and health care providers at severe risk.
CORDES: The visit was the last stop for the VP in a 6-state swing that has been solely focused on reproductive rights.
HARRIS: These extremists, they’re trying to take women back to the 1800s. We must restore the protections of Roe.
CORDES: The issue is a top focus for the Biden campaign, and here's why: 57% of Americans say the overturning of Roe v. Wade nearly two years ago was mostly bad for the country. Minnesota governor Tim Walz:
Is this the most animating issue for Democrats in your state right now?
TIM WALZ: Well, it's one of them. I think people are passionate. We are a passionate people. We vote in very high numbers. But I think at the end of the day, it's the one that is most personal and feels the most threatening, and it's the one that's real.
CORDES: Donald Trump, who attended a hearing in his classified documents case today, has strategically declined to say if he backs the 15-week national abortion ban favored by some Republicans.
DONALD TRUMP: You have to win elections. Otherwise, you’re going to be back where you were, and you can’t let that ever happen again.
CORDES: We got some legal news today, in another one of the four criminal cases that Trump is currently facing. The Manhattan D.A. Offered a 30-day delay in a trial that was supposed to get under way in just a couple of weeks. Now, this is the case that has to do with hush money payments that were allegedly made to adult film star Stormy Daniels. The defense wants 90 days to review tens of thousands of pages of new documents that were just handed over to them. Norah.
O’DONNELL: Nancy Cordes. Thank you for that update.
