Josh Shapiro leads ‘Fight for Reproductive Freedom’ rally downtown

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro kicked off Vice President Kamala Harris’ “Fight for Reproductive Freedom” campaign bus tour Sunday afternoon at the Independence Visitor Center in Old City, where he criticized former President Donald Trump’s record on abortion and said the western part of the state has seen an influx of women seeking “basic health care.”

“We’ve seen a dramatic increase, thousands of women, coming from West Virginia and Ohio, where they don’t have the same level of reproductive freedom that they have in those states, coming here to get basic health care, coming here to get an abortion if they choose to,” Shapiro told the crowd. “I’ve made it clear that our doors in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania are open to women from all of those United States.”

Shapiro’s comments were met with applause, cheers and nods of agreement from attendees inside the Liberty View event. The popular governor, who campaigned for the Harris-Walz ticket, blamed the raise on Trump’s “abortion ban.”

“I want you to know that we won’t be able to do much if Donald Trump gets the keys to the White House,” Shapiro said.

The November 5 election will be the first presidential election since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade In 2022, states introduced abortion bans.

Just before 2 p.m., as the rally was underway, several news organizations reported that shots had likely been fired near Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Fla. At a news conference slow Sunday afternoon, an FBI official said the agency was investigating “what appears to be an assassination attempt” on Trump.

The incident comes about two months after Trump was wounded in a shooting at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. A Secret Service official said agency personnel fired multiple shots at the alleged shooter, who was arrested shortly afterward. A scoped AK-47-style rifle and a GoPro camera were found near the brush where a Secret Service agent spotted a rifle barrel sticking out before Trump on the golf course.

On social platform X, Harris published“I have received reports of shots fired near former President Trump and his Florida property and I am glad he is safe. Violence has no place in America.”

Shapiro’s speech to the Philadelphia crowd marked the start of the Pennsylvania leg of Harris’ nationwide campaign bus tour focused on one of the Democrats’ top issues, reproductive rights. The campaign plans to visit more than a dozen locations in the key swing state to try to convince undecided voters of both parties.

Harris has promised to restore federal protections for abortion. During his term as president, Trump appointed three of the six judges who overturned Roe v. Wade.

Hadley Duvall, Kentucky reproductive rights advocatejoined Shapiro at the event. Duvall recalled staring at a positive pregnancy test while alone in the bathroom at age 12. Her stepfather, who had sexually abused her for half her life, got her pregnant, she said.

Not yet a teenager, the girl was faced with the necessity of motherhood.

“I was too young to really understand what was happening to me, but being told I had a choice was the first and only thing that gave me hope,” Duvall, now 22, told the audience.

In the world that was before Roe v. Wade was repealed, Duvall was able to access abortions in her native Kentucky. Her state has since implemented a ban which restricts abortion in almost all circumstances, including cases of incest.

“I’ll ask [Trump] over and over again, what’s so great about forcing a 12-year-old to carry her parent’s child?” Duvall said. “To tell a girl who’s already had her childhood taken away that you’re now taking away her future, it’s unimaginable, but it’s happening. It’s happening all over the country. It’s happening in this state.”

In Pennsylvania, abortion is available up to 23 weeks of pregnancy, and in some cases when the mother’s health is at risk. Duvall warned that Trump’s victory in November could threaten abortion rights. Duvall urged voters to remember that “survivors do not get to choose how their lives are affected.”

Meanwhile, outside the speeches, a raucous crowd of people of all ages, some holding signs that read “Stop Trump’s Abortion Ban,” gathered to show support for Harris and her vice presidential candidate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

As more than 200 rallygoers waited for Shapiro to arrive, the song “Verte Ir” by reggaeton singer Nicky Jam blared from speakers outside the Visitor Center. The music choice was likely a subtle dig at Trump, who last week mistakenly introduced Nicky Jam as a “she” when the former president welcomed the singer onstage at a campaign rally in Las Vegas. The singer, who is male, was there to officially endorse Trump.

Among the crowd was 69-year-old Philadelphia resident Caren Moskowitz, who said the fight for younger reproductive rights should be essential to all Pennsylvanians.

“I don’t want my daughters to have less freedoms than I did growing up,” said Moskowitz, a mother of three who took her family to the rally and worked as a volunteer urging people to register to vote.

“I think it’s important for people to get out and vote because that’s what their freedom is at stake,” she said.

Another participant, Beverly Warner-Simon Freeman of Philadelphia, said she was a 19-year-old student when she saw a 16-year-old girl die from complications following an illegal abortion.

More than 70 years later, it was overthrown Roe v. Wade It stirred up painful memories for the 91-year-old former occupational therapist, she said.

“We didn’t go through all this to keep our heads in the sand,” she said. “It’s our right!”

During the rally, Shapiro referenced a tweet Trump made earlier Sunday on Truth Social about a prominent Pennsylvanian who endorsed Harris — “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!” — and linked it to the fight for reproductive rights.

“Let’s be clear, attacking Taylor Swift, especially in her home state of Pennsylvania, is not a smart move,” Shapiro said. “Nor is it a smart move to take away the freedom of millions of women, because women will be voting in this election.”