Vice President Harris on Tuesday mentioned choices on gender-affirming care must be left to docs and their sufferers in an interview with NBC Information.
The vp mentioned “we should follow the law” when NBC’s Hallie Jackson pressed her on whether or not she believes in entry to gender-affirming care.
Harris famous that former President Trump’s marketing campaign has spent cash on promoting that claims Harris helps taxpayer-funded gender-affirmation surgical procedures.
“They’re trying to define you on this,” Jackson mentioned, giving the vp a chance to reply.
“I believe that people, as the law states, even on this issue about federal law, that that is a decision that doctors will make in terms of what is medically necessary. I’m not going to put myself in a position of a doctor,” Harris mentioned.
The vp argued that Trump’s adverts are supposed to distract Individuals from his well being care plan, together with that Republicans have lengthy supposed to finish the Inexpensive Care Act.
“Let’s also understand that Donald Trump is running tens of millions of dollars in ads to talk about two cases to distract from the fact that his policy and plan is also to take away the Affordable Care Act, which provides health care for tens of millions of people in our country,” she mentioned. “Let’s not get distracted by the issues.”
Jackson pressed Harris for her message to LGBTQ Individuals in search of a “full-throated backing” for the transgender group.
“I believe that all people should be treated with dignity and respect, period, and should not be vilified for who they are, and should not be bullied for who they are. And that is a true statement for me my entire career. And that has not changed,” she mentioned.
Harris was additionally pressed on the difficulty of gender-affirming care in an interview with Fox Information’s Bret Baier final week, throughout which Fox performed the Trump marketing campaign advert arguing Harris backs taxpayer-funded surgical procedures.
“I will follow the law, and it’s a law that Donald Trump actually followed,” she mentioned on the time, referring to a New York Occasions report that individuals within the federal jail system had been supplied gender-affirming care underneath the Trump administration.
“I think, frankly, that ad from the Trump campaign is a little bit of throwing stones when you’re living in a glass house,” she added. “You have to take responsibility for what happened in your administration.”