Post-Roe health care crisis ‘is not the Mormon way,’ say Harris’ Latter-day Saint supporters

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – AUGUST 6: Democratic presidential candidate, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz appear on stage together during a campaign event at the Liacouras Center at Temple University on August 6, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Harris ended weeks of speculation about who her running mate would be, selecting the 60 year old midwestern governor over other candidates. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

As some Latter-day Saints in different states campaign to get Vice President Kamala Harris in the White House, many question how to make the moral case to their family and friends for Democratic policies.  

In battleground Arizona, groups of Democrats and Republicans have joined forces to support Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. However, spreading that message can be controversial among more conservative communities with strong stances on issues such as reproductive rights. And, that’s what the group Latter-day Saints for Harris-Walz strategized on during an organizing call Thursday night.

Megan Jones, senior political adviser for the Harris campaign who attended the church-owned Brigham Young University, spoke about what she described as a health care crisis after the overturn of Roe v. Wade. 

“The vice president just met with a woman whose daughter died because she couldn’t get access to medical care, because in many states, there are punishments for physicians to provide care, even if the woman’s life or health is at stake,” she said. “That is not the Mormon way either.” 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints rejects elective abortion “for personal or social convenience.” However, exceptional circumstances may justify it, according to a statement from the church, including cases of incest or rape, or when the life or health of the mother is in serious jeopardy. 

About 300 people joined the call organized by Latter-day Saints for Harris-Walz, its second since Harris launched her campaign. The number was far less than the 1,400 people who tuned into the first call, in which different leaders, including Utah legislators and a Republican Arizona mayor, spoke in support of the vice president. 

Latter-day Saints, Democrats and Republicans, join forces to support Harris

The group isn’t directly affiliated with the church, and in the past meeting, organizers advised against using ward or stake membership lists when reaching out to people because that violates the church’s neutrality policy.

In Jones’ view, people don’t have to abandon their faith to agree that the government should not hold control over women’s bodies.

“Women in the Mormon faith, we have a lot of babies, and we know what goes wrong. I’ve had several miscarriages myself. These are not easy things,” Jones said. “And to tell me what I can and can’t do with my pregnancy, that might be different than what my doctor is telling me, that is the consequence of a post-Roe world.” 

Jones has been helping Harris with her Nevada operations since 2019. Now, 40 days before Nov. 5, things have been intensifying at Jones’ office and on the trail. But, she doesn’t expect things to be over then.

“This race is not going to be over on Election Day. It is going to be litigated. He is going to do the same thing,” she said of former President Donald Trump, who continues to deny the 2020 election results after President Joe Biden’s victory.

Jones made a call to protect clerks and ensure that the rule of law is upheld during the electoral process. 

“That is something that is not partisan, again, that is something you can talk to your neighbor about, your ward member about, who may not want to vote for Kamala Harris, but they care about integrity,” Jones said.

For Evan McMullin, who ran as an independent in the 2016 presidential election and in the 2022 race for the U.S. Senate in Utah, this election cycle will answer a fundamental question. 

“Whether America will continue to be a democracy, or whether we will fully head down a path towards authoritarianism will be answered in this election,” he said in the virtual call, criticizing actions such as the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. 

Only with a coalition of Democrats, Republicans, independents and members of other parties, he said, will democracy prevail. Overcoming other challenges in the country will depend on keeping that democratic system alive, he added. And, there’s a special responsibility toward children who don’t have a vote, but may witness substantial changes in their lives after this election, he said.

“I believe that Latter-day Saints, that our community, our faith community, and I hope Christians more broadly, will play a decisive role,” McMullin said. “Our populations are strong in a number of key states and I believe that we have a special responsibility to stand up for our Constitution, to stand up for our democracy and the values to the norms that underpin them.”

And that message is what some members of the group hope their Latter-day Saint friends and neighbors take with them while making a choice for president this year, as the church has strongly encouraged defending the Constitution, its principles and processes.

Former Mesa Vice Mayor Claudia Walters, part of the recently-announced LDS for Harris-Walz, Arizona Group, said that while organizing people of their faith many have asked to participate anonymously, which is a possibility in her group. 

“There are other people who are active members of our faith, who believe in the sanctity of life, who believe that it isn’t, as many people have said, the government’s business to decide whether my sister dies, I die,” Walters said. “This is not their role, but I encourage people not to dive into the abortion thing. Talk about Jan. 6, talk about the rule of law, talk about the peaceful transfer of power, and as one of my grandkids said, talk about the fact that that guy sure lies a lot.”