ATLANTA (AP) — Kamala Harris sharply criticized Donald Trump, calling him a threat to women’s freedom and their lives. In a speech in the swing state of Georgia on Friday, she warned that Republicans would continue to block access to abortion if he returns to the White House.

The Democratic vice president’s visit came days after ProPublica reported that two women in the state because they did not receive adequate medical treatment due to complications from taking abortion pills to terminate their pregnancies.

Such deaths, Harris said, were not only preventable but predictable, due to laws that have been in place since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Although Georgia’s ban allows abortions in early pregnancy to save the mother’s life, starting at six weeks of pregnancy, critics have said the law has created dangerous confusion among doctors about when they can perform the procedure.

“A good policy, a logical policy, a moral policy, a humane policy is to say that a health care provider will not begin care until you are dying?” Harris asked.

Harris told the story of Amber Thurman, a mother who chose to have an abortion when she became pregnant again.

“She had her future completely planned,” Harris said. “And it was her plan. What she wanted to do for herself, for her son, for their future together.”

Thurman, however, waited over 20 hours in the hospital for a routine medical procedure known as a D&C to remove the remaining tissue after taking abortion pills. She developed sepsis and died.

“She was loved,” Harris said. “And she should still be alive today.”

Harris has been an outspoken advocate for abortion rights since the Supreme Court’s decision more than two years ago, but Friday’s speech in Atlanta was her first to explicitly focus on the issue since she replaced President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee.

Harris heard from Thurman’s mother and sisters Thursday evening.

During a live-streamed campaign rally hosted by Oprah Winfrey and attended by Harris, Shanette Williams, Thurman’s mother, tearfully told viewers that “people around the world need to know that this was preventable.” Williams said she initially did not want to make her daughter’s death public in 2022, but ultimately decided it was important for people to understand that her daughter “was not a statistic. She was loved.”

Harris told the family: “I am so sorry. The courage you have all shown is extraordinary.”

At a second rally on Friday, she spoke about Thurman to a roaring crowd in the swing state of Wisconsin. In the Democratic stronghold and state capital of Madison, she called the bans imposed in more than 20 states “immoral” and warned against another Trump term.

“We are not going back,” Harris said.

Trump has repeatedly said he is proud of his role in overturning Roe v. Wade by appointing conservative justices during his time in office. He has also said he supports exceptions to the abortion ban in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is threatened.

Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Trump’s campaign, said that since such exceptions exist in Georgia, it is “unclear why doctors did not act quickly to protect the lives of the mothers.”

Abortion opponents and doctors argued Friday that the women’s deaths raised questions about the safety of taking abortion pills at home without medical supervision. Advocates have been pushing for tighter restrictions on the pills for years, most recently before the U.S. Supreme Court in a Failed attempt to limit availability.

“Women believe it is perfectly safe for them to order these drugs online,” Christina Francis, an anti-abortion activist from Fort Wayne, Indiana, told reporters on Friday.

Since 2000, the FDA has approved a two-drug regimen of mifepristone and misoprostol as a safe method to terminate pregnancies up to 10 weeks of gestation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the FDA has eliminated the requirement for an in-person visit to obtain the medications. Reported complications are rare, and 2.6% of cases require surgical intervention to terminate the pregnancy.

Dozens of pregnant patients have Delayed treatment or rejection from hospitals during medical emergencies over the past two years, a violation of federal law since Roe v. Wade was overturned by the US Supreme Court. Violations occurred in both states with and without abortion bans. But an AP analysis earlier this year found that in some states with abortion bans, including Texas, there was an immediate increase in abortion rates after the ruling.

Dr. Nisha Verma, a gynecologist from Georgia, said the six-week ban had created “an atmosphere of massive fear, confusion and uncertainty” in the medical community.

She said Republican lawmakers who are now blaming hospitals and doctors are witnessing the consequences of the laws in real time.

“The law prevents us from providing evidence-based care without having to think about the risk of criminal prosecution,” she said.

With personal early voting Harris’ campaign, which begins campaigning Friday in three states – Virginia, South Dakota and Minnesota – is hoping the issue of reproductive rights will be a strong motivator for Democrats. The party points to a string of election victories in which the issue of abortion rights was raised, and supporters believe Harris is a strong messenger.

About half of voters say abortion is one of the most important issues when considering how to vote — but registered female voters care more about it than male voters, a new AP-NORC poll finds. About 6 in 10 female voters say abortion policy is one of the most important issues for how they will vote in the upcoming election, compared to about 4 in 10 male voters.

The gender gap does not end here.

About 6 in 10 female voters trust Harris more than Trump on the abortion issue, while about 2 in 10 women trust Trump more. Half of male voters trust Harris more than Trump on the abortion issue, while about a third trust Trump more than Harris.

___ Long and Seitz reported from Washington. AP Polling Editor Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux contributed to this report.