Former Vice President Kamala Harris brought the fight over diversity, equity and inclusion programs directly into the midterm campaign on Tuesday, telling a Detroit audience that dismantling DEI is inseparable from weakening maternal care in America. Harris made the argument during a roundtable with Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed and several health care advocates focused on Black maternal health and the cost of care.
«An attack on DEI, to recognize diversity, equity and inclusion, is an attack by definition on maternal care, including the need to protect Black women in connection with their pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum care,» Harris said, according to remarks at the event.
Harris pointed to stark racial disparities in maternal mortality, noting that Black women face up to four times the risk of death related to pregnancy and childbirth, while Native women face roughly three times the risk. She also cited access problems, saying one in twelve women in the United States currently lives in a maternal care desert with limited or no access to obstetric services.
The former vice president framed the issue as a contradiction for political leaders who frequently invoke family values. «As one of the most — some would say the most financially strong economies in the world — we have the distinction of also having one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world,» she said. «So, it raises the issue of disparities and also hypocrisy when there are leaders who otherwise walk around every day talking about their family values.»
Harris aimed her sharpest criticism at President Donald Trump's health care legislation, which she called the «Big Bad Bill.» She argued that the measure cut Medicaid spending and that the reduction carries direct consequences for maternity care, because Medicaid is the largest funder of maternity services in the country. «Donald Trump cut Medicaid funding by a trillion dollars,» she said. «These are the facts Mike Rogers supported that cut through that 'Big Bad Bill.'»
Rogers, a former congressman, is the Republican nominee running against El-Sayed for the Senate seat. Harris used the Medicaid argument to draw a contrast between the two candidates on maternal health, casting the choice as one with tangible stakes for families across Michigan and beyond.
The Detroit appearance also served as a show of support for El-Sayed, who has centered his campaign on health equity and access to care. Harris closed by endorsing his candidacy on the strength of his record and positions on maternal health. «I'm here to support Doctor El Sayed, because, on this subject, I know he will be a champion,» she said. «And I have a right to say that.»
The roundtable reflects a broader effort by Democrats to make health care and reproductive and maternal services central to the closing argument before November's midterm elections. By linking DEI programs to maternal outcomes, Harris sought to reframe a contested cultural fight as a practical question of whether pregnant women, particularly in minority communities, can find and afford care.
Maternal mortality in the United States has remained stubbornly high compared with other wealthy nations, and public health researchers have long identified limited obstetric access, insurance gaps and structural inequities as contributing factors. The campaign event put those issues before voters in a state where health care costs and access are expected to be among the deciding concerns.
Harris's remarks also underscored the degree to which DEI has become a flashpoint in national politics, with supporters describing such programs as essential to addressing disparities and critics arguing they divide rather than unite. In Detroit, Harris sought to tie the debate to a concrete outcome: whether women survive pregnancy and childbirth.