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Harris In Georgia After Reports Of Abortion-Ban Deaths There; Harris In Georgia After Sharing Emotional Moment With Family Of Mother Whose Death Was Linked To Abortion Restrictions; VP Harris In Georgia To Talk About Reproductive Rights; Harris Speaks On Reproductive Rights During GA Campaign Event. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired September 20, 2024 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[15:01:14]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: This hour in Georgia, Vice President Kamala Harris talks to voters about an issue that could tip the election to Democrats, the fight over reproductive rights, as new reporting in the state reveals how an abortion ban may have cost two women their lives.

And what went wrong in Butler, Pennsylvania? The head of the Secret Service says it's done reviewing what happened on the day a would-be assassin tried to kill former President Trump, saying, quote, "We cannot afford to fail." The agency considers what comes next.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus, Israel says it's, quote, eliminated the commanders of Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force in a strike on southern Beirut after a week that saw coordinated attacks on the militant group. This conflict is now nudging closer to an all-out war in the Middle East.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: In minutes, Vice President Harris is scheduled to speak from battleground Georgia, trying to keep the focus on the issue. The poll shows a key strength for her, that is reproductive rights. The Peach State has now become ground zero for the abortion rights fight after ProPublica's disturbing report on two Georgia women, Amber Thurman, who is seen on the left here, and Candi Miller. They died in 2022 because of a lack of care most likely tied to the state's abortion ban. Georgia outlaws the procedure as early as six weeks of pregnancy. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is in Atlanta for us. She is following Vice President Harris.

Give us a preview of this stop, Priscilla?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, Brianna, we've already heard from some speakers, and it is a very somber tone in this room. You hear them now chanting, we're not going back. But the reason that this came together was for - what you described - was that ProPublica reporting about the mothers who died, One of whom from a treatable infection, who didn't receive medical care in time. And that stemmed, according to this reporting, from the state's abortion restriction.

So this was the report that brought the Vice President here. I'm told by sources that she directed her team to add this stop to her schedule this week to talk about reproductive rights. This is a detour, of course, before she heads to Wisconsin later this evening.

Of course, this is the campaign keeping the issue of reproductive rights front and center, looking for these moments to elevate and amplify these issues. And we can already get an indication of what the Vice President is going to say. If you look at the signs behind me, it says one in three women lives under a Trump abortion ban. That was a phrase the Vice President actually coined earlier this year in Arizona, when she did a similar sort of rapid response trip to that state over its abortion restrictions. So you can expect an impassioned response here.

I will also note that the OBGYN or a OBGYN is going to be introducing the Vice President, but as of now, it has been a quite somber tone. And we anticipate that going into the next few minutes when the Vice President is set to speak.

KEILAR: All right. Priscilla Alvarez on the trail with Vice President Harris, thank you for the report. Boris?

SANCHEZ: ProPublica says the finding declaring these deaths - preventable - came from Georgia's Maternal Mortality Review Committee. As we mentioned earlier, ProPublica reports both Candi Miller and Amber Thurman died in 2022. But the news outlet says the findings are coming out now because the board investigated each of the cases this past summer.

Thurman's loved ones spoke about the 28-year-old mother at a campaign event Vice President Harris attended last night with Oprah Winfrey.

[15:05:02]

The family says they only learned of the specifics about how she died from ProPublica's reporting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHANETTE WILLIAMS, MOTHER: Amber was not a statistic. She was loved by a family, a strong family. And we would have done whatever to get my baby, our baby, the help that she needed.

ANDRIKA THURMAN, SISTER: We had no idea. We trusted them to take care of her, you know, and they just let her die because of some stupid abortion ban.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm just so sorry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's discuss with Ziva Branstetter. She's a senior editor at ProPublica.

Ziva, thank you so much for being with us this afternoon.

Did Georgia's abortion restrictions contribute to these two women's deaths?

ZIVA BRANSTETTER, SENIOR EDITOR, PROPUBLICA: Thanks for having us to talk about this important reporting by Kavitha Surana and other journalists at ProPublica.

I would say the second death, absolutely. The state's maternal mortality board deemed that death both preventable and due to the state's abortion ban because the family explicitly told the coroner that Candi Miller did not go to the hospital to seek help because of the state's abortion ban.

In Amber Thurman's case, you know, the - we don't know what was in the doctor's heads. They've had plenty of opportunity to say, they waited 20 hours to perform the one simple procedure that could have saved her life called a D&C and that it's unclear under Georgia law whether it's legal to perform that in that case. So who knows what was in their head? But it was ruled preventable by the state maternal mortality board.

SANCHEZ: I'm curious what you think of Georgia's governor, Brian Kemp, calling these claims that the laws in Georgia, the LIFE Act caused these deaths. He's referring to it as misinformation. He posted something, an op-ed in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution describing that these laws were not responsible for that young moms' death. What's your reaction to that?

BRANSTETTER: Well, I think that's very interesting considering that the state maternal mortality board answers to the state health department in Georgia, which is part of the executive branch that Gov. Kemp runs. Two weeks before Amber Thurman's death, Gov. Kemp's attorneys for the state of Georgia also said that claims that women would die, women would be injured were fear mongering. And again, two weeks later, Amber Thurman was dead. And a couple of months later, Candi Miller was dead.

SANCHEZ: Thurman's family was hesitant initially to come forward and speak publicly about this. What do you think ultimately led them to share her story?

BRANSTETTER: I think it was the sensitivity and the commitment with which our reporter, Kavitha Surana, approached this story, understanding that we have - families have a right to tell their stories in a way that works for them. And we waited - we waited until they were comfortable talking to us and talked to them throughout the whole process. And it's a - it was a reporting process that balanced the needs of the family to come to grips with what had happened, but also the need for the family and the public to learn the truth about what is going on.

SANCHEZ: America also is exploring other potential cases like this. Can you share any details?

BRANSTETTER: Yes. I mean, I - we are very interested in hearing from current and former members of state maternal mortality board committees in states that have abortion bans. We're very interested in hearing from family members whose loved ones may have died because they didn't receive timely abortion care. Not every case in which a pregnant person dies is preventable or related to an abortion ban. But we believe that there needs to be more transparency in this whole process.

Many of these boards, as we pointed out, operate two years behind these deaths. And so they're only just now getting to the deaths that have occurred under extreme abortion bans. So I - we are going to be continuing this reporting. You know, I would urge people who are interested in this to please watch our website for additional stories in the coming weeks.

SANCHEZ: Ziva Branstetter, we appreciate your time. Thanks for joining us today.

BRANSTETTER: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Let's get some perspective now with former RNC national spokesperson, Madison Gesiotto and former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Thank you both for being with us.

Mayor De Blasio, first to you. How do you think the Harris campaign is using these incidents and these stories to communicate their views on reproductive rights? Who are they trying to reach by trying to humanize the real life impacts of these restrictions?

BILL DE BLASIO, (D) FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: Well, Boris, I think last night was so powerful. I was in Oakland County, Michigan at that event, sitting right near Shanette Williams, who lost her daughter, Amber.

[15:10:03]

And I think that said more that story, that painful story of what that Georgia abortion ban did and how a life was lost. A good young woman, a medical assistant, someone with an incredibly bright future lost because doctors would not treat her even though her body was in crisis, her life was in danger, doctors in Georgia wouldn't treat her because of that state law standing in the way.

And to see the mom and the two sisters of Amber talk about and then to watch the incredibly compassionate response from Vice President Harris, I think that said more than, you know, all the TV ads and position papers in the world. It was very human and powerful.

And it happened - also be taking place in one of the locations, one of the counties that's going to decide this election for this whole country. And I guarantee you, there are a lot of women in Oakland County, Michigan, who were really feeling that personal story and relating to it. I think Vice President Harris is doing something we haven't seen before for reason of her life's path, her personality, her way of communicating, but also her compassion.

It's coming out and I think it's going to have a very powerful impact, particularly on women voters who have not yet made up their mind.

KEILAR: Madison, I wonder what you think, because we see former President Trump trying to hold on to constituencies with different views on abortion. And it may be a difference of degrees, but they're hugely important when you come to this debate. How vulnerable is he on this issue?

MADISON GESIOTTO, FORMER RNC NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON: You know, I don't know who could potentially look at a situation like Amber's, a situation like Candi's or anybody else out there who's been through what their families are going through right now and not have empathy and not understand how they're feeling. But at the same time, I think on the left, there's a lot of toxic empathy in which people are using these stories to, quite frankly, manipulate the views of the general public on abortion restrictions, when the very real reality in these cases and in many others is that abortion is a potentially dangerous thing to make a choice to do and these women lost their lives as a result of that.

In states like Georgia, it wasn't the abortion restrictions that (INAUDIBLE) ...

KEILAR: Madison, I do just want to stop you on that, because I - Madison, Madison, I do want to stop you on that. I understand what you're saying. This was an abortion pill, which is actually incredibly safe. There are a number of medications that also have very ...

GESIOTTO: (INAUDIBLE) ...

KEILAR: ... if I may, that also have very ...

GESIOTTO: ... of course, it's not a hundred percent of the time that it's not safe, but there is side effects that are listed, and one of those is sepsis. And in these women's cases, and specifically in Amber's case, she went to the hospital experiencing sepsis. It's extremely scary thing to go through ...

KEILAR: But they've waited for 20 hours - Madison, you've read the article, right? They waited for ...

GESIOTTO: No, I'm not getting to many excuse.

KEILAR: But they waited for 20 ...

GESIOTTO: Of course, I know the details and they waited for 20 hours, but ...

KEILAR: Madison, pardon me ...

GESIOTTO: ... there is no evidence that this was a result of the (INAUDIBLE) law.

KEILAR: Madison, please do not represent - misrepresent what happened. They waited to treat.

GESIOTTO: I'm not misrepresenting anything. They waited to treat her and that's their fault. If I was her family, I'd be suing for medical malpractice at this point. There's no excuse because the law specifically states if you look at what the law says in Georgia, it's the intentional killing of an unborn child. In her case, there was no unborn child to kill. She already had an abortion. She had leftover pregnancy tissue and was bleeding out and obviously infected at that point.

I know what it's like to be on a medical table bleeding out. I've been in this position not as a result of an abortion, but as a result of a miscarriage. And I, too, was delayed in receiving that care. And it was actually before Roe v. Wade was overturned or there was any of these confusions. This happened to me, obviously, again, a miscarriage, not abortion. But I know what it's like. And I can't imagine if my family didn't have me with them today.

And so I sympathize with her family. But the reality is that the law in Georgia allowed those doctors to give her the care that she deserved. And I don't understand why they did not do that. I think it's unacceptable. And her family would be, I'm sure, grateful to have her here today if they did the right thing and gave her that D&C that she needed.

DE BLASIO: That's ...

SANCHEZ: Mayor, I see ...

DE BLASIO: ... Brianna, that's not the whole story. Could I just jump in and just say, clearly, the Georgia law - the Georgia abortion ban had a chilling effect on those medical professionals. We've been hearing this all over the country. Let's be honest about it.

GESIOTTO: And have they stated? I mean, they haven't said that, there's no evidence (INAUDIBLE) ...

SANCHEZ: Madison, you had an opportunity to speak (INAUDIBLE) ...

(Crosstalk)

DE BLASIO: Let me just please finish, I listened to you, just finishing. Medical professionals around the country have been faced with up to life in prison for providing life saving care to women. And this is what we have come upon. We have to be honest as a country. These abortion bans have now created an impossible situation where women are dying who could be saved.

And that's what - to watch that mom talk about her daughter having been lost - who could have been saved and that she's never coming back - I mean, let's be honest about what Donald Trump unleashed with the three support - with the three Supreme Court nominees that he got there, who took away Roe v. Wade, took away a woman's right to choose. This is now the result we're seeing all around the country.

[15:15:04]

SANCHEZ: Madison, you were trying to say something. GESIOTTO: There's just no evidence to say that that's what happened in Amber's case. I mean, and you even heard the reporter from ProPublica where this came out saying that they also are not saying that that's - evidence or anything to prove that at this point.

And again, the law specifically shows that that's not the case. So the doctors making the choice to not provide her with that care is their fault and it's something they can't fix at this point. It's absolutely horrendous what her family's going through.

Again, I empathize - I sympathize with her family. I can't imagine how they feel. But at the same time, it was not any abortion restriction. And, of course, again, to a lot of people on the right or even some on the left have pushed for more restrictions or more medical oversight on abortions. A lot of people don't agree with, you know, mail - whole mail abortion pills being delivered to your house.

Many view that this should be - if something you choose to do in a state where it's legal, it should be something that's done under the care of a professional. In Amber's case, she was, you know, under the care of a professional and this is what happened. So we don't want to see this being done at home where people don't have that medical oversight. That can be very dangerous and result in deaths like Candi's.

KEILAR: Well, what's clear from the law in Georgia is that when it comes to treatment and getting a D&C, it makes it clear about it being a spontaneous abortion. So a miscarriage from natural causes and that very easily could have contributed to the situation, causing some confusion here.

But Madison, great to have you on. Thank you for being with us. Mayor, we appreciate your time as well. Thank you.

And we are waiting, Vice President Kamala Harris speaking in Georgia. We will - these are live pictures. We'll be bringing that to you live when it begins.

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[15:21:11]

KEILAR: All right. Vice President Harris is there on stage in Georgia. She has just been introduced at an event in the battleground state. The campaign is saying that this is not a rally. Clearly a lot of excitement for her there, but this has been a more somber event. It is on abortion rights. They're billing this as an event on women's reproductive freedom at a critical time in this state. Let's listen in.

HARRIS: It's good to be back in Atlanta. Thank you all. Thank you.

You know, I just want to say - thank you. I just - I want to say about Dr. Reddick, you know, I - some of you may have seen I did an event last night with Oprah Winfrey and that it highlighted so many tragic stories, but it also highlighted so many important issues, which is why everyone is taking time out of your busy lives to be here this afternoon. And it highlighted the importance of a Dr. Reddick, because the courage, Dr. Reddick, that you are showing in the face of these arcane and immoral laws to stand so publicly and talk about your commitment to your oath and to the health and well-being of people who need to be seen and treated with dignity is so extraordinary.

And I do believe in moments of crisis. The world has a way of revealing the heroes among us, and I would say, Dr. Reddick, you are one of them. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

And thank you to all of the elected and community leaders who have joined us today. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Everybody who is here.

So, Georgia, the - this election right here is a fight for the future. It is a fight for the future and it is a fight for freedom - for freedom. And we know in America, freedom is not to be given. It is not to be bestowed. It is ours by right. It is ours by right. And that includes the fundamental freedom of a woman to be able to make decisions about her own body and not have her government telling her what to do.

Yes, we must trust women.

And we all know how we got here. When Donald Trump was president, he hand-selected three members of the United States Supreme Court, the court of Thurgood and RBG, with the intention that they would overturn the protections of Roe v. Wade. And as he intended, they did.

And now more than 20 states have Trump abortion bans, extremists that have passed laws that criminalize health care providers, doctors and nurses and punish women. In two states of those states, they provide for prison for life. Prison for life for health care providers for simply providing reproductive care, the care they so earnestly and rightly believe must be delivered. All Trump abortion bans. And think about this, many of these bans make no exception, even for rape and incest.

[15:25:01]

Now, many of you know, I started my career as a prosecutor specialized in crimes of violence against women and children. What many of you may not know is why.

So when I was in high school. My best friend, I learned, was being molested by her stepfather. And I said to her, look, you got to come and stay with us. I called my mother. She said, of course she does. And she came and she stayed with us.

And so I made the decision early in my life that I wanted to do the work that was about protecting the most vulnerable among us and doing the work that was about giving them dignity in the process.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. HARRIS: And so - well, thank everybody here for being here and standing in solidarity around the importance of that. And so I say to you, then, from that experience and from the work that I've done, the idea that someone who survives a crime of violence to their body, a violation of their body would not have the right to make a decision about what happens to their body next? That's immoral. That's immoral.

And let us agree, and I know we do. One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling her what to do. If she chooses -p if she chooses, she will talk with her pastor, her priest, her rabbi, her imam, but it should not be the government or Donald Trump telling her what to do with her body.

And think about it, the stories that Dr. Reddick shares with us, the stories we heard last night, the stories we've been hearing for two years. One in three women in America lives in a state with a Trump abortion ban. This includes Georgia and every state in the South, except Virginia. Think about that when you also combine that with what we know has been longstanding neglect around an issue like maternal mortality.

Think about that when you compound that with what has been longstanding neglect of women in communities with a lack of the adequate resources they need for healthcare, prenatal, during their pregnancy, postpartum. Think about that. And these hypocrites want to start talking about this is in the best interest of women and children? Well, where you've been? Where you've been when it comes to taking care of the women and children of America? Where you've been? How dare they? How dare they? Come on.

And we understand the impact of these bans and the horrific reality that women and families, their husbands, their partners, their parents, their children are facing as a consequence every single day. Since Roe was overturned, I have met women who were refused care during a miscarriage, wanted to have a child, suffering a miscarriage. I met a woman - I've actually met several - who were turned away from the emergency room. One of early stages after the Dobbs decision came down, told me with tears, she was with her husband about how only when she developed sepsis did she receive emergency care. Only when she developed sepsis, did she receive emergency care.

And now we know that at least two women - and those are only the stories we know here in the state of Georgia died - died - because of a Trump abortion ban. One, and we heard about her story last night, a vibrant 28-year-old young woman. She was ambitious. You know, I talked with her mother and her sisters about her and they described such an extraordinary life of a person.

She was excited. She was working hard. She was a medical assistant. She was going to nursing school, raising her six-year-old son. She was really proud that she had finally worked so hard that she gained the independence.

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Her family was telling me that she was able to get an apartment in a gated community with a pool for her son to play in.