Kamala Harris to visit an abortion clinic, a first for a president or vice president

Vice President Kamala Harris plans to tour a Planned Parenthood clinic in Minnesota that provides abortion services Thursday, according to three sources familiar with the planning.

The sources said they believed this was the first time a president or vice president has ever visited a clinic that provides abortion services in U.S. history.

Harris plans to tour the clinic, which provides health services as well as abortion care, and speak to healthcare providers, the sources said. The vice president may also talk to patients, though the sources stressed that Harris wants to make sure she doesn’t disrupt any services during her visit. She could also speak to reporters outside the clinic. 

In 2013, former President Barack Obama became the first sitting president to address Planned Parenthood. But Obama delivered his remarks at a Planned Parenthood conference at a hotel in Washington, D.C. and not at one of their clinics.

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Harris has emerged as a vocal and prominent advocate for abortion access for the Biden administration. She has pointedly attacked former President Donald Trump and Republicans for supporting abortion restrictions and has vowed to push for federal legislation to restore the federal right to abortions. 

President Joe Biden also made the issue of reproductive healthcare for women a prominent portion of his State of the Union address last week. It was among the first major issues raised in the speech, which was a priority for the White House.

The trip will be the sixth stop in the vice president’s “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” tour, which she kicked off in January to push for more abortion access in the wake of the overruling of Roe v. Wade. 

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Her office plans to release the location of the clinic closer to the time of her visit as her team has been concerned about protests, the sources said.

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This is Harris’ third trip to Minnesota as vice president. 

The vice president’s office did not provide a comment when reached by NBC News on Wednesday night.