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ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - In her quest to become the nation’s first female president and first woman of color chief executive, Vice President Kamala Harris is in Atlanta on Friday.

Harris touched down at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta at around 2:20 p.m. She then spoke at a campaign event for reproductive rights at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre before returning to the Air Force base at 4:20 p.m.

Fourty-six days to go in probably the most consequential election of our lifetimes. And with that today, I ask Georgia, are you ready to make your voices heard,” said Harris, ending a roughly 30-minute address in Cobb County.

Harris then flew to Madison, Wisconsin, for another campaign event and was set to end her day in Washington, D.C.

Georgia GOP Chairman Josh McKoon provided a statement to Atlanta News First, critical of Harris’ stop in Atlanta.

“Kamala Harris came to Georgia to peddle lies about our laws. Her refusal to offer any specifics on how she plans to turn our economy around, end the crisis she has created at our southern border, or end the wars her feckless policies started should be disqualifying,” said McKoon in a statement.

“Her unwillingness to stand and answer unscripted questions from the American free press while in our state is insulting to Georgia voters. Harris-Walz is the most far left and unqualified Presidential ticket in American history. Today was one more example of how true that is,” he added.

WATCH ANF+ >> Kamala Harris lands at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta

POSSIBLE TRAFFIC IMPACTS

If Harris’ motorcade takes I-75 south, expect delays along the interstate from GA-280 N to exit 258. The vehicle will take Cobb Galleria Parkway, which may lead to temporary closures of that road.

Another possible route for the vice president is US-41 south, which could lead to traffic being impacted along Atlantic Avenue SE and Windy Hill Road SE.

The issue of abortion has become a central issue in the 2024 presidential election. Harris has repeatedly criticized former President Donald Trump for appointing U.S. Supreme Court justices who were in favor of overturning what once was the nation’s landmark abortion law, Roe v. Wade.

In 2022, Roe v. Wade was overturned in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, in which the nation’s highest court held the U.S. Constitution does not confer the right to an abortion.

Harris’ visit comes on the heels of a viral article from non-profit news outlet ProPublica. The report said the deaths of two pregnant Georgia women could’ve been prevented if doctors were able to provide unrestricted abortion-related medical care.

Amber Thurman’s death occurred just two weeks after Georgia’s abortion ban - known as the “Heartbeat Bill” - was passed in 2022 following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling.

“She was heading to nursing school. And her name is - and we will speak her name - Amber Nicole Thurman,” said Harris to crowds on Friday, who briefly repeated her name.

Thurman sought help at the hospital for complications from taking an abortion pill two weeks after Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed the bill. Even as Thurman developed sepsis, ProPublica reported, doctors at the hospital did not evacuate the remaining fetal tissue in her uterus with a procedure called a dilation and curettage, or DandC. She died on the operating table, shortly after asking her mother to take care of her 6-year-old son. ProPublica said it will release another report on an abortion-related death in the coming days.

Thurman’s death is the first publicly reported instance of a woman dying from delayed care.

Thurman’s case is under review with the state’s maternal mortality commission. The suburban Atlanta hospital that reportedly delayed her treatment has not been cited by the federal government for failing to provide stabilizing treatment to a pregnant patient anytime within the last two years, an AP review of federal documents found.

The family of Candi Miller, the other woman cited in the article, said doctors told her another pregnancy could kill her. She ordered abortion pills online, but there were complications. She needed a procedure to clear tissue from her uterus and stave off sepsis. She was bed ridden and in extreme pain before she died. Family told the coroner she was afraid to visit a doctor because of Georgia anti abortion laws.

“This young mother should be alive, raising her son, and pursuing her dream of attending nursing school,” Harris said in a statement. “Women are bleeding out in parking lots, turned away from emergency rooms, losing their ability to ever have children again. Survivors of rape and incest are being told they cannot make decisions about what happens next to their bodies. And now women are dying. These are the consequences of Donald Trump’s actions.”

The Trump campaign said on Tuesday the fault rests with the hospital for failing to provide life-saving treatment.

“President Trump has always supported exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother, which Georgia’s law provides,” Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “With those exceptions in place, it’s unclear why doctors did not swiftly act to protect Amber Thurman’s life.”

Both Trump and Harris have made Georgia a priority. Harris has appeared six times in the Peach State this year, and her last stop was during a July 29, 2024, rally in Atlanta. That stop was just before she clinched the Democrat nomination for president, which came in the wake of President Biden’s stunning decision to end his 2024 reelection bid.

On Monday, JD Vance, the one-term Ohio U.S. senator who is Trump’s vice presidential running mate, headlined the Georgia Faith and Freedom Coalition’s victory dinner at the Cobb Galleria Centre.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was also in Georgia on Monday and Tuesday. Gwen Walz, the First Lady of Minnesota, was in Augusta Thursday and Friday.

Trump leads Harris in Georgia by a margin well within a survey’s margin of error, according to a new poll released Tuesday and published on Real Clear Politics. According to a statewide survey conducted by The Trafalgar Group, Trump has 46.2% over Harris’ 44.5%; 3.3% chose another candidate and 6% are undecided.

The survey was conducted Sept. 11-13, 2024, among 1,098 respondents who are likely 2024 general election voters. The poll’s response rate was 3.7%, with a margin of error of 2.9%.

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