“Abbott Elementary” star Sheryl Lee Ralph joined Vice President Kamala Harris in Montgomery County Wednesday afternoon to discuss reproductive rights and the stakes of the 2024 election.
In a gymnasium at Salus University in Elkins Park, which specializes in health and science, the two women sat in front of a Biden-Harris campaign sign that said “Reproductive Freedom,” sandwiched between American and Pennsylvania flags.
They spoke about the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the country’s high maternal mortality rate and racial disparities within it, the Biden administration’s efforts to expand postpartum Medicaid care, Planned Parenthood, trusting women, and the stakes of the election contest between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
Ralph is a Broadway star and Emmy-award winning actress who plays Mrs. Howard on Abbott Elementary, a mockumentary sitcom that takes place in Philadelphia schools. She is married to State Sen. Vincent Hughes, D., Philadelphia, and spoke at the 2022 Bans Off Our Bodies rally in Harrisburg, as well as Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s January inauguration.
Wednesday’s visit was Harris’ fifth time in five weeks she led a campaign event focused on reproductive rights, according to the campaign, and marked her 13th visit to Pennsylvania — a critical swing state — since taking office. She visited Philadelphia last month to promote a student debt relief plan.
Harris told a story about visiting a reproductive health clinic and telling reporters she would be shamelessly naming parts of the reproductive system and blurted out “Ovaries!” Ralph joined in, and they took turns shouting body parts such as “Uterus!” and “Fallopian Tubes!”
