MADISON, Wis. – Kamala Harris said Thursday that Donald Trump’s comment that he would protect women “whether they like it or not” shows that the Republican presidential candidate does not understand women’s rights to “make decisions about their own lives, including their own bodies.”

“I think it’s offensive to everybody, by the way,” Harris said before spending the day campaigning in the Western battleground states of Arizona and Nevada.

Trump’s remarks come at a time when he is struggling to connect with female voters and Harris is courting women in both parties with a freedom-focused message. She argues that women should be free to make their own decisions about their bodies and that more restrictions will come if Trump is elected.

Trump appointed three of the U.S. Supreme Court justices who formed the conservative majority that overturned federal abortion rights. As the effects of the 2022 decision spreadHe began claiming at public events and social media posts that: “he would protect women” and make sure they are “not considering abortion.”

At a rally near Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Wednesday evening, Trump told supporters that aides had pressured him to stop using the phrase because it was “inappropriate.”

Then he added a new one to his protection line. He said he told his aides: “I’m going to do this whether the women want it or not. I will protect them.”

Harris said these words were part of Trump’s disturbing statements.

“This is the latest in a long series of statements the former president has made about what he thinks about women and women’s representation,” he said.

Trump’s comments increased the sniping between the campaigns as both compete for female voters, who typically make up the majority of the electorate. Mark Cuban, a surrogate for billionaire businessman Harris, said in an interview with “The View” that Trump “never surrounded himself with strong, intelligent women.”

Cuban’s remarks drew swift rebukes from women involved in Trump’s political operation; campaign chief Susie Wiles said in a rare social media post that she was “proud to lead this campaign.” Campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt also went after Cuban, saying he was “insinuating that female Trump supporters are ‘weak and stupid.'”

More broadly, Trump and Republicans are struggling with how to talk about abortion rights, especially at a time when women across the country are grappling with getting proper medical care because of abortion restrictions that have consequences far beyond the ability to end an unwanted pregnancy.

Embers gave contradictory answers He flaunts his stance on abortion, saying at some points that women should be punished for having abortions and the judges he appoints. During his successful campaign in 2016, he told voters that if he were elected, Roe v. He said he would appoint justices to the Supreme Court to overturn the Wade case and said he was “pro-life.”

But in recent weeks he has vowed to veto a national abortion ban after repeatedly refusing to make such a commitment. He said states must regulate care and that some laws are “too strict.”

The disorganization of state laws regarding abortion since 2022 leads to disparity in medical care. Some women died. Others bleed in emergency car parks or they became critically ill from sepsis because doctors in states where abortion was strictly banned kept pregnant women away until they became sick enough to require medical care. This includes women who never intend to terminate a pregnancy. Both infant and maternal deaths increased.

Trump’s statements about women drew attention in Harris’ campaign. A woman in a campaign ad Suffering from severe sepsis after a pregnancy complication As an audio recording of Trump’s comments about protecting women plays, she stands in front of the mirror and looks at the large scar on her stomach.

Harris hopes abortion will be a powerful motivator for women at the ballot box.

In early voting so far, 1.2 million more women than men have voted in seven battleground states, according to data from analytics firm TargetSmart.

This doesn’t necessarily mean Democratic gains. However, there was a 9 percentage point gap between men and women in support for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the 2020 presidential election. AP VotingA survey of more than 110,000 voters.

The Democratic Party’s proposal was supported by 55 percent of women and 46 percent of men. That hasn’t changed much since the 2018 midterms, when VoteCast found a 10-point gender gap, with 58% of women and 48% of men supporting Democrats in congressional races.

Conservative Republican Liz Cheney, who campaigned for Harris, noted that the votes were secret and suggested that Republicans who wanted to quietly vote against Trump could do so. A new campaign ad featuring Julia Roberts shows a woman entering a voting booth and voting for Vice President Kamala Harris.

“You can vote any way you want,” Roberts says as the voter exchanges information with another woman. “And no one will ever know.” As she left the voting booth, her husband asked, “Did you make the right choice?” he asks. and his wife says, “Of course it is, honey.”

“Remember, what happens in the booth, stays in the booth,” says Roberts.

The ad angered some Trump supporters, including Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, who played a central role in the former Trump’s turnout drive in several key states.

Speaking on conservative Megyn Kelly’s podcast, Kirk called the ad “disgusting” and “a disaster” and called it “the embodiment of the collapse of the American family.”

Kirk also assumed, based on nothing stated in the ad, that the husband was “probably doing whatever he could to make sure he could go off and have a good life and provide for the family,” but “Harris and his team believe that will happen.” There are millions of women who undermine their husbands.”

Kirk’s organizational network is critical to the Trump campaign’s engagement operation; It works statewide, particularly in two key states, Arizona and Wisconsin.

Harris is scheduled to hold rallies on Thursday in Phoenix, Reno, Nevada and Las Vegas. Trump, meanwhile, is traveling to New Mexico and Virginia in the final days of the campaign, taking a risky detour from seven battleground states to spend time in places where Republican presidential candidates have failed to win in decades.