How Kamala Harris Learned to Say the Words ‘Ovaries’ and ‘Womb’ While Laughing and Promoting Abortion Rights on the Campaign

As Vice President Kamala Harris narrowed her political message on abortion rights, she also began talking more about female organs, enjoying the awkward moments her comments could provoke.

On Wednesday in Pennsylvania, during a roundtable discussion with actress and singer Sheryl Lee Ralph, Harris recalled a trip she took to visit a Planned Parenthood clinic when she first blurted out the word “ovaries.”

“I said very loudly, ‘Ovaries!’ She remembered bursting out laughing.

‘Oviducts!’ she continued laughing, “Fibroids!”

“For me, at least, it was the funniest thing,” she added. “All the female reporters started laughing, all the male reporters looked down.”

For two years, Harris has led the charge to rally women on the issue of abortion rights, arguing that she and President Joe Biden will restore abortion rights if re-elected to public office.

Harris uses heavily carefully honed political language to talk about “reproductive freedoms” during interviews and roundtables, but she clearly enjoys the audience reaction when she blurts out the real struggles women have with their organs, which men simply don’t understand. .

“Everyone, prepare for the language,” she began after visiting a Planned Parenthood clinic in March.

‘Womb!’ she said, laughing at her use of the word. “That part of the body needs a lot of medical care from time to time.”

She continued to help reporters with the language.

“Issues like fibroids – we can handle this – breast cancer screenings, contraceptive care – that’s the kind of work that happens here, in addition to abortion care of course,” she said.

These aren’t the kinds of conversations Harris was having just a year ago, but as the campaign heats up, the vice president and her aides have made it a point to have these moments.

Harris brought up female organs during a March interview with former Bravo TV stars Jennifer Welch and Angie “Pumps” Sullivan for their “I’ve Had It” podcast.

“I’m sure I’m the first vice president to use the word ‘uterus’ in front of the press, and then I didn’t stop there either, I said the f-word, I said fibroids,” she said, laughing along with the pair women.

“I’m pretty sure we could do a fact check, but I’m pretty sure no other vice president has done that publicly,” she added.

Former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway said Harris’ comments make American women feel “smart” by comparison.

“The Republican Party speaks to me from the waist down, where my eyes, my ears, my heart and my mouth are,” Conway said in an interview with Fox News.

“She only wants to talk to everyone from the waist down. And she just proved that.”

Now that Kamala Harris is actively campaigning for re-election, she is more direct on specific gender issues than when she first came to Washington, D.C.

In 2016, as a newly elected senator for California at the Women’s March in Washington DC, she revealed her frustration with the way people asked her about “women’s issues.”

“I looked at it and said, I’m so glad you want to talk about the economy,” she said.

‘I would say: fine, let’s talk about the economy, because that is a women’s issue. I would say you want to talk about women’s issues, let’s talk about national security… let’s talk about health care, let’s talk about education, let’s talk about criminal justice reform, let’s talk about climate change.”

Harris’ frustration was that “women’s issues” were too narrow for many politicians, while she expressed her fatigue with categorizing women in politics.

“We as women are tired of being relegated to simply being thought of as a particular constituency and demographic group,” she said.

Although she was surrounded by women wearing pink “pussy hats,” Harris did not bring up women or their female organs. The right to abortion was just one of many issues she raised in her speech.

Even after Harris was named vice president, she was dismissive of questions about her gender, especially when asked whether her identity played a role in why Biden chose her as his running mate in the first place.

“I don’t think I understand you — I honestly don’t understand your question,” Harris told the New York Times in 2023 when asked whether it mattered whether people believed or not that her identity was the reason she was chosen as deputy director.

“He chose a black woman. That woman is me,” Harris, making the moment awkward for the New York Times journalist. “So I don’t know if there’s anything left hanging about what he should choose. He has chosen. He asked me to go on the ticket.”

These days, Harris seems to be okay with her audiences being a little uncomfortable about gender issues and conversations about female genitalia. She also feels increasingly comfortable talking about being the first female vice president.

“You asked me earlier what it means to be the first woman (vice president),” Harris told talk show host Drew Barrymore during an episode. “And you know, it’s funny, because people are still getting used to this, right?”

She cited criticism of her laugh as an example of persistent misogyny in politics.

“Don’t let other people’s perceptions of what this looks like and how you should act limit you, right? It’s very important,” she said.