Vice President Kamala Harris returning to Arizona for abortion-related campaign event

On the heels of the Arizona Supreme Court’s upholding a Civil War-era abortion ban, Vice President Kamala Harris will visit Tucson on Friday for an event focused on “reproductive freedom,” the Biden-Harris re-election campaign announced Tuesday.

Harris has traveled across the country to rail against Republican-led attempts to restrict abortion. She appeared in Phoenix in early March to argue that Arizona’s laws “criminalize doctors" and "punish" women, calling the state’s anti-abortion advocates “extremists.”

Her visit will come days after the Arizona Supreme Court’s highly anticipated ruling on the topic. On Tuesday morning, the court announced it will uphold an 1864 law that bans nearly all abortions and mandates prison time for abortion providers.

Arizona Supreme Court:Abortion set to be illegal in nearly all circumstances

Republican politicians had asked the courts to allow police and prosecutors to enforce the territorial-era law, after the U.S. Supreme Court rolled back protections afforded by the landmark abortion case Roe vs. Wade.

The campaign did not immediately release further details about Harris' upcoming visit.

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, released his platform on abortion on Monday. Trump endorsed the Supreme Court’s rollback of Roe vs. Wade and said he believes the matter should be left to the states. He did not endorse a national ban on abortion, which has been floated by some in his party.

“My view is now that we have abortion where everyone wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation, or perhaps both. And whatever they decide must be the law of the land. In this case, the law of the state,” the former president said in a video posted to social media.

He said he is “strongly in favor of exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother,” though many states have implemented abortion bans that do not have those exceptions.

Arizona is considered a swing state in the upcoming presidential election. In 2020, Harris and President Joe Biden beat Trump in the state by less than half a percentage point.

The White House has ramped up its presence in Arizona accordingly. The president, vice president, both of their spouses and several other campaign surrogates have visited Arizona since the beginning of March.

Laura Gersony covers national politics for the Arizona Republic. Contact her atlgersony@gannett.com or 480-372-0389.