Official portrait of Vice President Kamala Harris.

Photograph by Lawrence Jackson

While Kamala Harris’ youth is an undeniable asset in her presidential campaign, her ability to address abortion rights alongside — not in spite of — religious freedom is what truly sets her apart on the Democratic ticket. Harris’ commitment to religious freedom within the abortion debate has the power to redefine the conversation, bridging the gap between faith and pro-choice stances. Harris brings a unique position where faith is not an obstacle to reproductive rights, it is an enabler. This perspective has the potential to appeal to a broader electorate, finally energize voters, and secure her victory in November.

Within moments of stepping down from reelection, President Joe Biden endorsed Vice President Harris, sparking a wave of endorsements from prominent Democratic figures. These endorsements highlight the shift from Biden to Harris as appealing to both his supporters and critics. Harris is seen as a unifying solution for a splintered party. Instead of a politics motivated solely by a fear for a new Trump term, Harris offers a hope-based campaign based with a clear vision for America’s future. For Harris, this future includes abortion rights.

This is an advantageous vision. Pew Research Center polls demonstrate 63% of Americans believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases. This includes two-thirds of moderate Republicans. While abortion is largely supported by the American public, the narratives around abortion lead one to believe it is a completely partisan issue. The role of faith — specifically Christianity — can largely be held responsible for creating this narrative.

Recent decisions coming from faith communities like the Southern Baptist Convention’s vote to oppose IVF or the state’s determination that life begins at conception in the Missouri abortion ban, reinforce the idea that all Christians are against abortion. In fact, Biden’s own discomfort with the topic likely emerged from his Catholic faith — causing him to omit the word “abortion” when discussing reproductive rights during his 2024 State of the Union address.

Yet a new wave of Americans in favor of abortion rights does not see this as a disconnect with their faith. In fact, Pew’s research shows that nearly 6 out of 10 American Catholics (a community known for their pro-life theology) support abortion rights.

Harris’ stance on abortion blurs this ostensibly hard line between faith and reproductive politics. Speaking at the National Baptist Convention in 2022, Harris affirmed that faith leaders know “one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held religious beliefs to agree that a woman should have the ability to make decisions about her own body and not have her government tell her what to do.”

Connecting her personal faith with her advocacy for reproductive rights, Harris shifts the traditional narrative. “She talks about abortion rights, and she talks about it unapologetically,” remarked vice president for public policy at the Guttmacher Institute, Kelly Baden. A longtime member of the Third Baptist Church in San Francisco, which is dually aligned with American Baptist Churches USA and the National Baptist Convention, Harris was raised in an interfaith family, growing up attending the Church of God and frequenting Hindu temples with her Indian immigrant mother. Married to Douglas Emhoff, a Jewish lawyer, she models interfaith relationships not just professionally but privately.

These interfaith influences alter the conversation around abortion. When we associate pro-life politics with religious beliefs, we ignore the religious pluralism within the conversation around reproductive rights. Jewish voices, such as those of Hoosier Jews for Choice suing the state of Indiana for its abortion restrictions, have been advocating for their religious freedom to advocate for pro-choice legislation. Various other Christian and Jewish groups from all around the United States have done the same since the 2022 Dobbs decision.

Introducing the topic of abortion as one that does not negate the role of faith but affirms it, Harris has the potential to change the national conversation about abortion. While Trump and Vance both failed to mention abortion during the Republican National Convention, Harris provides unwavering clarity on where she stands.

Most importantly, Harris meets the conversation around abortion where it is most fertile — at the intersection of differing religious communities. Reproductive rights are an essential part of genuine religious freedom in America. It is only through interfaith dialogues that the limiting binary thinking around abortion and faith is interrogated.

By weaving together diverse faith perspectives, Harris generates a compelling vision for America in which the Democratic Party unites around this pivotal issue. In a political landscape where a third of registered voters are steadfast in choosing candidates who align with their views on abortion, Harris’s nuanced and religiously literate approach to reproductive rights is not just a strategy — it’s a game-changer.